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Enrolling by invitationNCT05041166Updated Oct 2, 2026

A Study of [13C]Pyruvate as an Imaging Agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Healthy Volunteers

A Phase 1 interventional study of Hyperpolarized [13C] Pyruvate in Healthy Volunteers, sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-02.

Sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Phase 1, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Updated Oct 2, 2026Primary completion movedStudy completion movedGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of the study is to learn about the use of [13C]pyruvate as an imaging agent for MRI scans. In past studies, researchers have seen that [13C]pyruvate can improve imaging with MRI scans. However, they would like to know more about how the imaging agent is distributed in healthy organs and tissues. This study will provide additional information about the use of [13C]pyruvate as an imaging agent for MRI scans, and it will show us how the substance is metabolized (changed into energy) in the organs and tissues of healthy volunteers. For (n=5) volunteers undergoing brain imaging we will compare the standard injection at 5mL/second with a slower infusion (0.1-1mL/second) to achieve a 60 second infusion time, to approach quasi steady-state metabolism and improve SNR.

02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy Volunteers

Keywords

  • MRI
  • Hyperpolarized (HP) [13C] pyruvate
  • 21-309
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is the lead sponsor of 1,930 studies on the registry; 328 are open to participants now.

Of its 129 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 66 (51%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Fifty healthy volunteers will be included.

  • Age between 18-80
  • Negative serum or urine pregnancy test for female volunteers of childbearing age and potential (as defined by MSKCC Standards \& Guidelines), from assays obtained \<2 weeks prior to study enrollment. Urine pregnancy tests are only valid for the day of test.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Breast-feeding
  • History of metabolic (e.g. diabetes) and renal functional disorders.
  • Refusal or inability to tolerate the scanning procedure (e.g., due to claustrophobia)
  • Acute major illness (e.g., unstable cardiovascular condition, systemic malignant diseases, etc.).
  • Standard MRI safety screening will be applied (MRI screening questionnaire); volunteers with MR unsafe devices, or conditional devices where research mode is not allowed, will be excluded.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Protocol optimization cohort

    Following the \[13C\]pyruvate injection, dynamic imaging and 3D volumetric imaging of volunteers in the first cohort (HP MRI protocol optimization, Aim 1) will be performed on the 3-T MRI scanner, using different \[13C\] RF excitation/detection coils.

    Drug: Hyperpolarized [13C] Pyruvate

  • Experimental
    Tissue reference cohort

    The optimal setup will then be used for HP MRI of the second cohort.

    Drug: Hyperpolarized [13C] Pyruvate

Interventions

  • DrugHyperpolarized [13C] Pyruvate

    Will be injected at a dosage of 0.43 ± 0.05 mL/kg body weight

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Signal-to-noise ratios

    will be used to assess image quality, and to compare the different technical setups. The setup providing the highest SNR will be considered optimal.

    Time frame: 1 day

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    New York, New York 10065, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.

09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Primary completion
Sep 2026→Sep 2027
Oct 2, 2026
Study completion
Sep 2026→Sep 2027
Oct 2, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 2, 2026
    Primary completion Sep 2026→Sep 2027
    Study completion Sep 2026→Sep 2027
    + 1 other change: verification date

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05041166
Lead sponsor
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Collaborators
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 10, 2021
Start date
Sep 1, 2021
Primary completion
Sep 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 2, 2026

Study contacts

Vesselin Miloushev, MD
principal investigator · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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