National Cancer Institute, Acquisition Management Branch, TBS, 6120 Executive Blvd, EPS/Rm 603 Bethesda, MD 20892-7220

66 -- OVERHAUSER ENHANCED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (OMRI) SOL N02-SC-97027-09 POC Mary E. landi O'Leary E-MAIL: Mary E. Landi O'Leary, ml186r@nih.gov. The National Cancer Institute (NIH), Division of Clinical Sciences (DCS), proposes to issue a sole source Request for Proposal to Phillips, North America, to purchase an Overhauser enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging. This particular procurement is associated with a research project with Philips/NYCOMED which is supported by a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between NCI and Philips. The specific goals of this collaborative effort are to: evaluate OMRI as a means of determining tissue oxygen levels; using a variety of animal tumor models, evaluate OMRI against other techniques for oxygen tissue measurements (EPRI, oxygen electrodes, immunohistochemical assays); monitor oxygen levels in murine tumors by OMRI during fractionated radiation treatment to determine if reoxygenation of hypoxic regions in tumors occurs and OMRI will be used to access the influence of systemic vasodilators such as nitric oxide donor agents on tumor oxygenation. The proposed research involves the use ofan OMRI to obtain functional/physiologic information in tumors to determine which treatment regimen will be adjusted depending upon the oxygen status of the tumors. In OMRI, an agent is infused prior to the imaging procedure. The infusion of the agent results in an enhancement of the proton images in the MRI performed at the low field of 10mT. The enhancement of the proton depends on several factors, most important of which is the tissue pO2. The Phillips OMRI is the only machine, which can provide readings as such a low level (10 mT). The Phillips OMRI is the only machine, which can provide the physiological information necessary to accomplish this research due to its low field. The Philips design of the OMRI scanner, in addition has the following features which make it optimal for use on live objects; 1) Field Cycling ability, whereby the main magnetic field with a 50 cm bore size is cycled between 5 mT and 20 mT in less tha 10 ms. This ability makes it possible to perform EPR irradiation at RF frequency corresponding to a field of 5 mT with minimal or no heating where as the NMR detection is performed at 15-20 mT,for enhanced sensitivity. This feature is necessary to map the pO2 distribution with desired resolution; and 2) The c0-axial EPR and NMR RF coils with their fields perpendicular to minimize the noise. The non-invasive nature of OMRI in providing such information holds significant promise in clinical radiology, particularly in tumor physiology characterization by non-invasive means and develops optimal treatment protocols. Current methods to characterize tumor pO2 to decide the radiation treatment planning are highly invasive leading to issues regarding patient comfort and compliance making such studies difficult. Therefore, with OMRI such studies might be more feasible. This is being solicited as a Fixed Price Contract for the base purchase of the OMRI with two options for hardware upgrades and a three year maitance. This is not a request for competitive proposals. Any questions regarding this RFP N02-SC-97027 should be addressed to Ms. Mary Landi O'Leary, Contracting Officer at (301) 435-3812. Numbered Note 22 applies. Collect calls will not be accepted Posted 01/20/99 (W-SN289658). (0020)

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