High Tc susceptometer for magnetic measure of body iron

描述（由申请人提供）：拟定的生物工程研究 合作伙伴关系将整合生物工程，基础科学和临床工作 在设计、开发和临床验证中， 高转变温度超导 用于直接、非侵入性测量肝脏铁储备的放射性同位素计 在遗传性血色病、地中海贫血、 严重的镰状细胞病和其他疾病。我们的实验室 提出储存铁（铁蛋白和含铁血黄素）可以是非侵入性的， 由于其顺磁性，在体内进行了评估。我们随后 开发低转变温度（低Tc;在4.2oK下运行） 超导量子干涉仪（SQUID）生物测量法作为一种 肝铁储备的临床测量方法。无创 铁超载患者肝脏贮铁的磁性测定 在数量上等同于对获得的组织进行的生化测定 但是低Tc仪器的成本和复杂性限制了 临床采用该方法。我们的低Tc温度计有三个组成部分 其利用超导性：（i）SQUID，（ii）场线圈， 在肝脏附近产生局部稳定磁场，以及（iii） 检测线圈和磁通Transformer。最近的技术进步使 这些低Tc元素中的每一个都可能被替换，由液氦冷却， 其部件在被液氮冷却时能够起作用。提供 “原理证明”，我们已经建造并运行了一个原型高温超导体， 具有（i）高Tc SQUID，（ii）提供 一个强的局部磁场，和（iii）检测线圈和通量 Transformer由沉积在 柔性衬底拟议的伙伴关系现在将优化和整合 将这些组件放入一系列液氮冷却的临床设备中， 然后在成人研究中验证和认证高Tc-骨密度计， 儿科患者。磁性研究允许准确，直接和重复 用任何其他方法都不可能测量肝脏铁储存。的 开发一种负担得起的，易于使用的非侵入性仪器， 肝铁的测量-NIDDK和 NHLBI -将是患者诊断和管理的重大进步 与铁超载，将发现立即和广泛的临床应用， 在美国和全世界。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed Bioengineering Research Partnership will integrate bioengineering, basic science and clinical efforts in the design, development and clinical validation of a high-transition-temperature (high Tc; operating at 77oK) superconducting susceptometer for the direct, non-invasive measurement of hepatic iron stores in patients with iron overload from hereditary hemochromatosis, thalassemia major, sickle cell disease and other disorders. Our laboratories originally proposed that storage iron (ferritin and hemosiderin) could be non-invasively assessed in vivo because of its paramagnetic properties. We subsequently developed low-transition-temperature (low Tc; operating at 4.2oK) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) biosusceptometry as a clinical method for the measurement of hepatic iron stores. Non-invasive magnetic measurements of hepatic storage iron in patients with iron overload are quantitatively equivalent to biochemical determinations on tissue obtained by biopsy but the cost and complexity of the low-Tc instrument has restricted clinical adoption of the method. Our low-Tc susceptometer has three elements which utilize superconductivity: (i) the SQUID, (ii) the field coils that produce a localized steady magnetic field near the liver, and (iii) the detection coils and flux transformer. Recent technological advances make possible replacement of each of these low-Tc elements, cooled by liquid helium, with components able to function when cooled by liquid nitrogen. To provide "proof-of-principle," we have constructed and operated a prototype high-Tc susceptometer with (i) a high-Tc SQUID, (ii) a NdBFe permanent magnet providing a strong localized magnetic field, and (iii) detection coils and flux transformer fashioned from a high-Tc Y1Ba2Cu3O7-delta film deposited on a flexible substrate. The proposed Partnership will now optimize and integrate these components into a series of liquid nitrogen-cooled clinical devices, and then validate and certify the high Tc-susceptometers in studies of adult and pediatric patients. Magnetic studies permit accurate, direct, and repeated measurements of hepatic iron stores not possible with any other method. The development of an affordable, readily usable instrument for the non-invasive measurement of hepatic iron - a high priority goal of both the NIDDK and the NHLBI - would be a major advance in the diagnosis and management of patients with iron overload that would find immediate and widespread clinical use both in the U.S. and worldwide.