T2 corrected quantification method of l- p-boronophenylalanine using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy for boron neutron capture therapy

Abstract

In the present study, we aimed to evaluate a T2 corrected quantification method of l- p-boronophenylalanine (BPA) concentration using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). We used five phantoms containing BPA (1.5, 3.0, 5.0, 7.5, and 10 mmol/kg=15, 30, 50, 75, and 100 μg 10B/g), N-acetyl-aspartic acid (NAA: 3.0 mmol/kg), creatine (Cr: 5.0 mmol/kg), and choline (Cho: 3.0 mmol/kg). The signal intensities of BPA and internal water were corrected by T2 relaxation time. The absolute concentrations of BPA were calculated by proton MRS using an internal water signal as a standard. The major BPA peaks were detected between 7.1 and 7.6 ppm. Mean T2 relaxation time was 314.3±10.8 ms in BPA, 885.1±39.7 ms in internal water. The calculated BPA concentrations were almost same as the actual concentration of BPA and the correlation coefficient was 0.99. Our BPA quantification method was very simple and non-invasive, also it had high accuracy. Therefore, our results indicate that proton MRS can be potentially useful technique for in vivo BPA quantification in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT).