GAMMA-MRI: Towards a Novel Clinical Imaging Modality Using Long-lived Aligned Gamma Emitters

Diplôme Thèse GAMMA-MRI: Towards a Novel Clinical Imaging Modality Using Long-lived Aligned Gamma Emitters eng 2023 2023 author Kulesz Karolina 908610 director Kowalska Magdalena 915535 Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire (FINUC) director Jolivet Renaud 849014 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:172303 urn:nbn:ch:unige-1723038 Sc. 5770 This thesis presents a study of the production and hyperpolarization (HP) of metastable xenon radioisotopes (129mXe, 131mXe, and 133mXe referred to as mXe) and the investigation of the angular distribution of their γ radiation. The thesis is a collection of three research articles, presented in the order that reflects the first steps of the GAMMA-MRI medical imaging modality that is currently under development: production of mXe isomers, their subsequent orientation, and detection of their asymmetric gamma emission: 1. the production of 131mXe from decay of 131I in Chapter 3; 2. the production of 129mXe and 131mXe via neutron activation with thermal neutrons in Chapter 4; 3. a numerical study of the anisotropic distribution of γ-ray emission from hyperpolarized 129mXe, 131mXe, and 133mXe in Chapter 5. In addition, the production of 131mXe and 133mXe at the Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility ISOLDE at CERN, is given in Annex A. Finally, the first proof-of-principle experiments devoted to hyperpolarization of 129m,131mXe and detection of emitted γ radiation are described in Chapter 6. The above-mentioned studies are a part of the GAMMA-MRI research project aiming to develop a new medical imaging modality based on the physics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Preliminary studies of the technique indicate that it could have benefits over existing conventional imaging techniques if a high enough level of 129mXe, 131mXe, and 133mXe spin polarization can be achieved and maintained long enough to acquire changes in γ-ray angular distribution under rf pulses. The presented thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor at the University of Geneva. The research presented here was conducted at CERN, under the supervision of professor Magdalena Kowalska and professor Renaud Blaise Jolivet. The work presented in the thesis was performed within an accepted Letter of Intent and Proposal to the ISOLDE and Neutron Time-of-Flight Committee (no. I-205 and P-598). Research funding was provided by CERN’s Medical Applications Fund, and since 2021 by the EU Research and Innovation Council within grant no. 964644 (GAMMA-MRI). In addition, the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship was provided to KK by the Swiss Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students. Future developments in the scope of the above-mentioned grant will include the fabrication of tailored-to-experiment magnet coils, advancements in the design of the detectors, and further hyperpolarization studies using newly produced samples of mXe. Gamma ray detection Radioisotopes production Dewey 500.2 34 Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire 132 false 43592ce9-db17-4400-ad45-342e4f9aec05 Thesis Public 20231014_UNIGE_KK___Article_based_t.pdf 25772093 application/pdf CC BY e9a6c4a8d7c747238fdf22d3c42aaedaaf8145f967c21b07fabb09cb6e44d129 2ffc3137-3948-4b8f-ae01-d1d9c53176fc Imprimatur Public Page2_impremateur.pdf 48569 application/pdf a328e7e4f7ef21d9f070dfc707545f698c7d54e713eba74690320ef343e6a4f0 openAccess Faculté des sciences / Section de physique / Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire

Title	Published in	Access level	OA Policy	Year	Views	Downloads

GAMMA-MRI: Towards a Novel Clinical Imaging Modality Using Long-lived Aligned Gamma Emitters				2023	298	216

Archive ouverte UNIGE

Kulesz, Karolina

account_balance Affiliation entities

Research groups

Affiliation entities