Abstract #3338

Improved Metabolite Quantification Using VAPOR Water Suppression

Yan Li¹, Janine M. Lupo¹, Duan Xu¹, Douglas A.C. Kelley², Sarah J. Nelson^1,3

¹Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States; ²Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, San Francisco, CA, United States; ³Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States

The availability of whole body MR scanners with field strengths of 7 Tesla offers the potential of higher SNR and better spectral resolution, but also introduces complications, such as the presence of increased sidebands from unsuppressed water. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of VAPOR water suppression and to assess the improvements in the accuracy of metabolite quantification compared to conventional water suppression with CHESS. The data acquired using VAPOR water suppression have smaller residual water signals, less gradient-induced water sidebands, lower CRLB and coefficients of variance compared to that acquired using CHESS. VAPOR suppression is therefore a valuable tool for improving the accuracy of metabolite quantification.