Measurement of myocardial blood volume and water exchange using ferumoxytol

Background Accurate, quantitative mapping of myocardial blood volume (MBV) could potentially serve as a novel biomarker for cardiovascular disease. However, quantitative measurement of MBV can be technically difficult. Typical gadolinium based contrast agents leak out of the vasculature and are more suited towards measuring extracellular volume than MBV. Even with a completely intravascular contrast agent, water exchange between the intraand extravascular comparments has been shown to introduce error into MBV measurements. The Hazlewood two comparment model has been used to describe water exchange effects, and Donahue et al adapted this model to quantify the error water exchange introduces into blood volume measurements. Here we use ferumoxytol, a wholly intravascular iron based contrast agent, to characterize water exchange and quantify blood volume in a group of healthy volunteers.