Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in neurodegenerative diseases

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (H-1 MRSI) was used to inve stigate changes in brain metabolites in Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Examples of results from several ongoing cli nical studies are provided. Multislice H-1 MRSI of the human brain, without volume preselection offers considerable advantage over previously availabl e techniques. Furthermore, MRI tissue segmentation and completely automated spectral curve fitting greatly facilitate quantitative data analysis. Futu re efforts will be devoted to obtain full volumetric brain coverage and dat a acquisition at short spin-echo times (TE < 30 ms) for the detection of me tabolites.