A Post-processing Framework for Localized 2D MR Spectroscopy in Vivo

Abstract

Purpose: We propose a post-processing framework for localized two-dimensional (2D) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in vivo.
Methods: Our framework consists of corrections on eddy current and subject motion along with the framework used in conventional analytical 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In the eddy current correction, the phases of the free induction decays (FIDs) of the metabolite ¹H are corrected along the t₂ direction by the phase of the FID of water ¹H. The corrected FIDs are Fourier transformed along the t₂ direction, and interferograms of F(t₁, ω₂) are calculated. In the motion correction, the zero-order phase of the N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) singlet peak for each t₁ axis is corrected after correction of frequency drift.
We applied this framework in phantom and human brain measurements in a 4.7T whole-body MR system. Two-dimensional data were collected by the localized 2D constant-time correlation spectroscopy (CT-COSY) sequence. We used a phantom containing a brain metabolite mixture of NAA, creatine (Cr), glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln) and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA). We demonstrated the eddy current correction procedure in the phantom experiments and the subject motion correction in human measurements.
Results: Though asymmetric patterns of the singlets of NAA and Cr were shown around the peak along the F₂ direction in the reconstructed phantom spectra without eddy current correction, symmetric patterns arose after the correction. The t₁ noise caused by those singlets was found in the human brain spectra without motion correction. The t₁ noise was sufficiently suppressed by the motion correction.
Conclusion: Our proposed post-processing framework for localized 2D MRS can improve the quality of in vivo 2D spectra and may allow improved quantitation and robustness of in vivo 2D spectroscopy.