SHORT ECHO TIME PROTON SPECTROSCOPY OF THE BRAIN IN HEALTHY-VOLUNTEERS USING AN INSERT GRADIENT HEAD COIL

An insert gradient head coil with built-in X, Y, and Z gradients was u sed for localized proton spectroscopy in the brain of healthy voluntee rs, using short echo time stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) seq uences. Volume of interest size was 3.4 ml, repetition time was 6.0 s, and echo times were 10 and 20 ms, respectively. Good quality proton s pectra with practically no eddy current artefacts were acquired allowi ng observation of strongly coupled compounds, and compounds with short T-2 relaxation times. The gradient head coil thus permits further stu dies of compounds such as glutamine/glutamate and myo-inositols. These compounds were more prominent within grey matter than within white ma tter. Rough estimations of metabolite concentrations using water as an internal standard were in good agreement with previous reports.