First application of dynamic oxygen-17 magnetic resonance imaging at 7 Tesla in a patient with early subacute stroke

Dynamic oxygen-17 (O-17) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging method that enables a direct and non-invasive assessment of cerebral oxygen metabolism and thus potentially the distinction between viable and non-viable tissue employing a three-phase inhalation experiment. The purpose of this investigation was the first application of dynamic O-17 MRI at 7 Tesla (T) in a patient with stroke. In this proof-of-concept experiment, dynamic O-17 MRI was applied during O-17 inhalation in a patient with early subacute stroke. The analysis of the relative O-17 water ((H2O)-O-17) signal for the affected stroke region compared to the healthy contralateral side revealed no significant difference. However, the technical feasibility of O-17 MRI has been demonstrated paving the way for future investigations in neurovascular diseases.