Optimization of residual water signal removal by HLSVD on simulated short echo time proton MR spectra of the human brain

Suppression of the residual water signal from proton magnetic resonance (MR ) spectra recorded in human brain is a prerequisite to an accurate quantifi cation of cerebral metabolites. Several postacquisition methods of residual water signal suppression have been reported but none of them provide a com plete elimination of the residual water signal, thereby preventing reliable quantification of brain metabolites. In the present study, the elimination of the residual water signal by the Hankel Lanczos singular value decompos ition method has been evaluated and optimized to provide fast automated pro cessing of spectra. Model free induction decays, reproducing the proton sig nal acquired in human brain localized MR spectroscopy at short echo times ( e.g., 20 ms), have been generated. The optimal parameters in terms of numbe r of components and dimension of the Hankel data matrix allowing complete e limination of the residual water signal are reported. (C) 2001 Academic Pre ss.