Optimization of Spectroscopy-Based Diffusion Measurements of Intramyocellular Lipids

Vaclav Brandejsky¹, Roland Kreis¹, Chris Boesch¹

Intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) are related to insulin resistance and are an important substrate for the muscular metabolism. Studies of diffusion properties of these lipids in vivo may contribute to the understanding of their physiological role. However, due to low diffusion coefficients, very strong gradients are required leading to motion artifacts. Cardiac pulsations induce additional signal variations. This study aimed at optimizing parameters for diffusion measurements by MR spectroscopy in skeletal muscle. It was found that both physiologic triggering and independent phase corrections of individual spectra is essential to obtain correct diffusion measurements for IMCL in vivo.