Spectroscopic imaging of the brain with phased-array coils at 3.0 T

Xu, Duan; Chen, Albert P.; Cunningham, Charles; Osorio, Joseph A.; Nelson, Sarah J.; Vigneron, Daniel B.

doi:10.1016/j.mri.2005.10.019

« Previous Next »Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Volume 24, Issue 1 , Pages 69-74, January 2006

Spectroscopic imaging of the brain with phased-array coils at 3.0 T☆

Duan Xu
- Joint UCSF/UCB Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley, CA 94143, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA
- Corresponding author. Department of Radiology, University of California, Box 2512, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA. Tel.: +1 415 514 4455; fax: +1 415 513 4450.
Albert P. Chen
- Joint UCSF/UCB Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley, CA 94143, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA
Charles Cunningham
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Joseph A. Osorio
- Joint UCSF/UCB Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley, CA 94143, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA
Sarah J. Nelson
- Joint UCSF/UCB Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley, CA 94143, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA
Daniel B. Vigneron
- Joint UCSF/UCB Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley, CA 94143, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512, USA

Received 2 August 2005; accepted 19 October 2005. published online 19 December 2005.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) utilizing the gains in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) provided by combining higher magnetic field with high-sensitivity phased-array (PA) coils. We investigated the maximum improvement in spatial resolution as small as 0.09 cm³ for brain MRSI while maintaining adequate SNR and acquisition time. The use of low peak power, dual-band spectral-spatial pulses was also investigated for application to 3 T MRSI of the brain using the body coil for radiofrequency excitation and PA coils for signal reception.

Keywords: Spectroscopy, Brain, Phased array, 3 T