Repeatability of 2D Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging

Lawrence Kenning¹, Martin Lowry¹, David John Manton¹, Lindsay W. Turnbull¹

A repeatability study comparing the effects of field strength, pulse sequence and echo time was conducted. Data were acquired from ten volunteers on three occasions, using the mean of the differences between voxels to determine repeatability. An ANOVA model was used for statistical analysis (type IV). An interaction between field strength and echo time was found with shorter echo times being more repeatable at 3.0T, and longer echo times being more repeatable at 1.5T. Chemical shift dispersion is one possible cause. Robustness (no. good quality voxels/repeatability) was calculated and a relationship between theoretical SNR and robustness was found.