Abstract #2001

Spin-Lattice and Spin-Spin Relaxation of Water and Lipids in Human Vastus Lateralis M. Measured by 1H-MRS at 3T

Sunil K. Valaparla¹,², Geoffrey D. Clarke², Timothy O. Duong,²³

¹Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States; ²Radiology, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States; ³Research Imaging Institute, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States

Quantitative evaluation of relaxation times can be used to measure metabolite concentrations accurately and for optimizing measurement protocols in single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). This study reports spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times of water, intra and extra-myocellular lipids in the human vastus lateralis (VL) muscle obtained using a STEAM single voxel pulse sequence in normal healthy subjects at 3T. The results obtained are consistent with data reported for 1.5T in VL and other muscles at higher field strengths. These data can be applied to relaxation corrections for the absolute quantification of vastus lateralis m. lipid spectra in normal and diseased states.