Short TE Volumetric Spiral 1H MR Spectroscopic Imaging of the Human Brain at 3T Using Semi-LASER

Mohamed Tachrount^1,2, Laurent Lamalle³, Jan Warnking², Christoph Segebarth²

Proton MR chemical shift imaging of brain metabolites can identify biomarkers relevant to healthy or metabolic cerebral metabolism. Here, short TE volumetric 1H Spiral Spectroscopic Imaging acquisition on the human brain in a total acquisition time compatible with clinical examination is demonstrated at 3T. Short TE acquisition allows detection of strongly J-coupled and short T2 metabolites. Volumetric acquisition allows better characterization over heterogeneous tissue. To reduce chemical shift displacement error and B1 heterogeneity effects, the semi-LASER approach is applied. Simultaneous spatial and spectral encodings with spiral waveforms reduces the minimum acquisition time.