LINE SCAN IMAGING OF BRAIN-METABOLITES WITH CPMG SEQUENCES AT 1.5 TESLA

A line scan Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) spectroscopic imaging seq uence has been implemented on a standard 1.5 T clinical scanner to map metabolite signals at multiple echo times hem voxels along selected t issue columns through the brain, The CPMG multiecho spectroscopic imag e data sets are used to estimate brain metabolite T2 decay parameters in a group of healthy volunteers and in one tumor patient, Inherent tr ade-offs between T2 decay, spectral resolution, and echo spacing prove to be important limiting factors, In particular, separate quantitatio n of choline and creatine resonances at 1.5 T was not achieved in the present implementation, However, the ability to collect data sets suit able for T2 decay analyses of combined choline and creatine resonances and N-acetyl aspartate resonances in under 10 minutes may prove of cl inical utility in the study of brain pathology.