FAST H-1 SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING USING A MULTIELEMENT HEAD-COIL ARRAY

Fast proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) using a mu lti-element head-coil array is examined with respect to three aspects: the coil design, the use of an appropriate signal combination method, and the design of the MRSI pulse sequence itself. An eight-element he ad-coil array has been developed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MRSI in the human brain. The flexible wraparound design opti mally fits different head sizes and thus provides high sensitivity. Th e signal combination of the individual coil elements is based on the a pproach proposed by Roemer et al. (Magn. Reson. Med. 16, 192 (1990)), An additional short prescan is performed to provide a good estimate of the complex coil sensitivity profiles, which are used in the signal c ombination procedure to correct the spectroscopic imaging data for the spatially varying intensity. The use of coil arrays in MRSI has some effect on the requirements for both water and lipid suppression. These techniques and a MRSI pulse sequence that provides a high spectroscop ic resolution are described and discussed. Experimental results at 1.5 T show that metabolite maps of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho) , phosphocreatine (PCr)/creatine (Cr) can be obtained within a B-min a cquisition time.