Abstract
From a technical aspect, high-speed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies such as multichannel technology, sparse sampling, and synthetic MRI are the latest and most notable developments in MRI systems. Based on high-speed MRI technologies, a resting-state functional MRI method was developed and applied to obtain objective diagnoses for psychiatric disorders. First, I summarize the recent technical progress in MRI systems. Next, “hyperpolarization technology”, which can increase the signal-to-noise ratio by more than a thousand times (a hundred thousand times ideally) in MRI is introduced. Recently, hyperpolarized 13-C pyruvate was applied to human phase-I trials in the United States. I summarize the advantages and potential issues of this method. Finally, I describe our recent progress in responsive nano-contrast agents such as calcium phosphate nano-micelle with manganese contrast agent and thermo-activatable liposome, and theranostic applications using drug delivery systems.
