High‐resolution proton metabolic mapping of the human brain at 7 T using free induction decay rosette spectroscopic imaging

• Published in: NMR in biomedicine Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. e5042 - n/a
• Main Authors: Mahmud, Sultan Z., Denney, Thomas S., Bashir, Adil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2024
• Subjects: 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging; 1H rosette spectroscopic imaging; Biological products; Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Brain mapping; Brain Mapping - methods; Central nervous system; Choline; Creatine; Decay; free induction decay; Glutamates - metabolism; high‐resolution metabolic mapping; Humans; Imaging; Inositol; Inositols; Lipids; Lower bounds; Magnetic induction; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - methods; Mapping; Metabolism; Metabolites; Neuroimaging; Protons; Regularization; Spatial discrimination; Spatial distribution; Spatial resolution; ultrahigh field; Water - metabolism; high-resolution metabolic mapping; 1H rosette spectroscopic imaging; ultrahigh field; 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging; free induction decay
• ISSN: 0952-3480; 1099-1492; 1099-1492
• DOI: 10.1002/nbm.5042

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) provides information about the spatial distribution of metabolites in the brain. These metabolite maps can be valuable in diagnosing central nervous system pathology. However, MRSI generally suffers from a long acquisition time, poor spatial resolution, and a low metabolite signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR). Ultrahigh field strengths (≥ 7 T) can benefit MRSI with an improved SNR and allow high‐resolution metabolic mapping. Non‐Cartesian spatial‐spectral encoding techniques, such as rosette spectroscopic imaging, can efficiently sample spatial and temporal domains, which significantly reduces the imaging time and enables high‐resolution metabolic mapping in a clinically relevant scan time. In the current study, high‐resolution (in‐plane resolution of 2 × 2 mm2) mapping of proton (1H) metabolites in the human brain at 7 T, is demonstrated. Five healthy subjects participated in the study. Using a time‐efficient rosette trajectory and short TR/TE free induction decay MRSI, high‐resolution maps of 1H metabolites were obtained in a clinically relevant imaging time (6 min). Suppression of the water signal was achieved with an optimized water suppression enhanced through T1 effects approach and lipid removal was performed using L2‐regularization in the postprocessing. Spatial distributions of N‐acetyl‐aspartate, total choline, creatine, N‐acetyl‐aspartyl glutamate, myo‐inositol, and glutamate were generated with Cramer–Rao lower bounds of less than 20%. A nonlipid‐suppressed 1H FID magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) technique using a rosette trajectory is demonstrated for mapping major 1H metabolites in the human brain at 7 T. This technique can generate major 1H metabolic maps with an in‐plane resolution of 2 mm in an acquisition time of less than 6 min for a single slice. This technique is fast and can be very useful for clinical applications.