Abstract #1393

Mapping T2 Relaxation Time of Cerebral Metabolites using Three Dimensional Proton-Echo Planar Spectroscopic Imaging (PEPSI)

Hsiang Wei Ho¹, Shang Yueh Tsai¹, Yi Ru Lin², Stefan Posse^3,4, Fa Hsuan Lin^5,6

¹Electrical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Tao Yuan, Taiwan; ²Electronic Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology, Taipei, Taiwan; ³Neurology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, United States; ⁴Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States; ⁵Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ⁶6 MGH-HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States

Regional metabolite T2 relaxation times are necessary for absolute quantification of metabolite concentration. Here, 3-diemensional Proton-Echo-Planar-Spectroscopic-Imaging (PEPSI) is proposed to obtain T2 maps of three major cerebral metabolites in four consecutive slices in less than 20 minutes. Our results show consistent T2 values between subject and regional difference of NAA between WM and GM which in agreement with previous studies. The estimation of T2 values is stable according to the high Pearsons correlation coefficients between logarithmic MR signals and TE. In summary, PEPSI technique is a robust method to obtain fast maps of metabolite T2 values.