Abstract

Motivation: The pH value is an important biomarker for many diseases. MRI-based 3D pH mapping for clinical routine would be an enormous benefit for diagnostics. Goal(s): Prediction of intracellular 31P-pHi maps from 1H APTw-CEST MRI data using a voxel-wise neural network, aiming to improve brain tumor imaging. Approach: Fifteen glioblastoma patients underwent 3T MRI with both APTw-CEST and 31P-MRS. A neural network trained on 11 patients data to correlate APTw-CEST features with 31P-derived pHi values, tested on 4 additional patients. Results: The neural network's pHi predictions closely matched 31P-pHi maps, showing potential for high-resolution, non-invasive pHi mapping in brain tumors. Impact: High resolution pH imaging for better diagnosis of diseases (inflammation, stroke, tumor) and therapy monitoring in clinical routine.