# Absolute Brain Thermography using Multinuclear MRI

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2024 · $551,646

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Stroke is the leading cause of disability, the second leading cause of dementia, and the second leading
cause of death worldwide, affecting nearly 800,000 patients per annum in the U.S. alone. Cerebrovascular
ischemia is rapidly potentiated by rising body temperatures, occurring even with mild and sub-febrile
hyperthermia. The potency of hyperthermic damage in ischemic brain arises due to impaired cooling in
hypoperfused brain tissues. Consequently, localized brain hyperthermia can precede, and commonly exceeds,
systemic temperature changes following ischemic injury, and is well-recognized as accelerating stroke
progression and consumption of at-risk tissues. Despite severe worsening of clinical outcomes among febrile
stroke patients, the development of prognostic biomarkers and robust treatment targets in peri-ischemic cerebral
hyperthermia remains unrealized due to lack of pragmatic means to acquire accurate spatially-resolved cerebral
thermographs.
 MR thermometry (MRT) using the proton resonance frequency (PRF) chemical shift with 1H-MR
spectroscopy (MRS) has been explored for non-invasive cerebral thermography. Despite promising results,
several fundamental limitations undermine estimation of absolute temperature and thus impede development of
meaningful clinical paradigms, including: 1) the local environment in tissues can significantly alter performance
and affect temperature estimation; 2) magnetic field fluctuations caused by physiological- and hardware-related
noise introduce large errors in temperature estimation; and 3) low temperature sensitivity and signal-to-noise of
spectroscopic imaging approaches hinder in vivo accuracy. This application addresses such challenges to fulfill
the elusive aim of absolute MR thermometry using novel multinuclear thermometry developed by the
investigators. Initial results suggest significantly heightened immunity to B0 drift, susceptibility, and pH, and
higher SNR per-unit time, relative to MRS approaches. These developments support an unprecedented level of
overall accuracy, and in this application we apply this approach towards development of absolute 3D whole-
brain thermometry for detection and characterization of ischemic cerebral hyperthermia.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10881407
- **Project number:** 1R01EB034820-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Leeor Alon
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $551,646
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10881407

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10881407, Absolute Brain Thermography using Multinuclear MRI (1R01EB034820-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10881407. Licensed CC0.

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