High-Resolution Echo-Planar Spectroscopic Imaging of Human Calf

Jan Weis¹, Morten Bruvold², Francisco Ortiz-Nieto¹, Hkan Ahlstrm¹

This study exploits the speed benefits of echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) to acquire proton spectra of skeletal muscle. 2D EPSI with high spatial resolution (spectral matrix 6464) was used for the assessment of intramyocellular (IMCL) lipid content in the calf muscle and to visualise the influence of bulk magnetic susceptibility (BMS) effects on the shape and positions of extramyocellular (EMCL) lipid spectral lines. BMS shifts of EMCL intensities up to 0.5 ppm relative to correspondent IMCL lines were observed. High spatial resolution enables quantification of the muscle lipids in non-continuous and irregularly shaped volumes of interests.