Quantitative SENSE-MRSI of the human brain

Bonekamp, David; Smith, Mari A.; Zhu, He; Barker, Peter B.

doi:10.1016/j.mri.2009.11.003

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Volume 28, Issue 3 , Pages 305-313, April 2010

Quantitative SENSE-MRSI of the human brain☆

David Bonekamp
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
- F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Corresponding author. Department of Radiology, MRI 143C, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Tel.: +1 410 955 1740; fax: +1 410 955 9799.
Mari A. Smith
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
- F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021, USA
He Zhu
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
- F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Peter B. Barker
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
- F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

Received 15 November 2008; received in revised form 27 July 2009; accepted 26 November 2009. published online 04 January 2010.

Abstract

Purpose

To develop a method for estimating metabolite concentrations using phased-array coils and sensitivity-encoded (SENSE) magnetic resonance spectroscopic images (MRSI) of the human brain.

Materials and Methods

The method is based on the phantom replacement technique and uses receive coil sensitivity maps and body-coil loading factors to account for receive B₁ inhomogeneity and variable coil loading, respectively. Corrections for cerebrospinal fluid content from the MRSI voxel were also applied, and the total protocol scan time was less than 15 min. The method was applied to 10 normal human volunteers using a multislice 2D-MRSI sequence at 3 T, and seven different brain regions were quantified.

Results

N-Acetyl aspartate (NAA) concentrations varied from 9.7 to 14.7 mM, creatine (Cr) varied from 6.6 to 10.6 mM and choline (Cho) varied from 1.6 to 3.0 mM, in good general agreement with prior literature values.

Conclusions

Quantitative SENSE-MRSI of the human brain is routinely possible using an adapted phantom-replacement technique. The method may also be applied to other MRSI techniques, including conventional phase encoding, with phased-array receiver coils, provided that coil sensitivity profiles can be measured.

Keywords: Brain, Magnetic resonance, Spectroscopic imaging, SENSE, Quantitation