Patent ID: 7251519

Claim:
A method of MR investigation of a sample, said method comprising: (i) nuclear spin polarising a MR imaging agent, wherein said agent is a high T 1 agent and contains in its molecular structure at least two hyperpolarisable nuclei of the same type of MR imaging nuclei within the same molecule, having similar signal amplitudes, and wherein the frequency difference between the two resonance lines from said nuclei, δυ, is dependent upon either the temperature, pH, pO 2 , pCO 2 , or ionic concentration of said sample; (ii) administering the nuclear spin polarised MR imaging agent to said sample; (iii) exposing said sample to a radiation at a frequency selected to excite nuclear spin transitions in selected nuclei therein; (iv) detecting and manipulating magnetic resonance signals from said sample using a single-shot RARE acquisition sequence with shifted data acquisition, and wherein and excitation and detection steps iii) and iv) are such that said nuclei are all being excited and detected in the same sequence; and (v) optionally generating an image, dynamic flow data, diffusion data or physiological and/or metabolic data from said detected signals.