Design of an In Vivo-Like Phantom for Quantitative Body CEST MRI.

Authors

Petr Menshchikov, Petr Bulanov, Neele Kempa, Mark E Ladd, Andreas Korzowski, Philip S Boyd

Published in

Magnetic resonance in medicine. Sep 09, 2026. Epub Sep 09, 2026.

Abstract

To design and validate a reproducible in vivo-like fat-containing CEST phantom that enables robust quantitative CEST MRI for body applications by providing physiologically realistic relaxation properties, relevant endogenous CEST contrasts (amide, guanidino, rNOE, and semi-solid MT), and a controlled fat component.
An agar-based water-fat CEST phantom was designed using agar, gelatin, and bovine serum albumin, with adjustable fat fraction (FF) achieved through stable water-fat emulsions. Phantom composition was tuned to reproduce tissue-relevant T₁ and T₂ relaxation times and physiological pH. The accuracy and temporal stability of FFs and CEST contrasts were assessed over a 3-month period. Low-power CEST MRI at 7T was performed to quantify amide, guanidino, and rNOE contrasts using the inverse metric MTR_Rex, and their concentration dependence and temporal stability were evaluated.
The proposed phantom-generated Z-spectra closely resembled in vivo body CEST measurements and reproduced major endogenous CEST and semi-solid MT effects with controllable contrast levels. Stable and reproducible FF values were achieved for FFs up to 50% over the investigated 3-month period, covering the clinically relevant range for most body tissues. Quantitative CEST metrics demonstrated linear concentration dependence and good temporal stability.
An in vivo-like, fat-containing CEST phantom was developed and validated as a reproducible and physiologically relevant reference standard for quantitative body CEST MRI. By enabling controlled investigation of fat-induced effects on CEST contrast quantification, this phantom supports the standardized validation of fat suppression and correction strategies and facilitates methodological development and cross-study comparability in body CEST imaging.

PMID:
42717398
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Sep 2026.

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