Three-dimensional triple-quantum-filtered (23)Na imaging of in vivo human brain

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy

Background:

• Sodium MRI provides valuable information about tissue physiology.
• Standard triple-quantum-filtered (TQ) sodium imaging methods suffer from radio-frequency (RF) inhomogeneity artifacts.
• Reducing acquisition time and improving image quality are crucial for clinical translation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel scheme for generating 3D TQ sodium images of the human brain.
• To demonstrate the advantages of a new three-pulse coherence transfer filter over standard methods.
• To enable RF inhomogeneity-corrected TQ sodium imaging in clinically acceptable times.

Main Methods:

• A three-pulse, six-step coherence transfer filter was developed.
• This filter was combined with a fast twisted projection imaging sequence.
• The method was validated theoretically and experimentally on normal human brain.

Main Results:

• The new three-pulse filter significantly reduces the dependence of TQ sodium image intensity on flip angle variations compared to the standard four-pulse filter.
• Correction for RF inhomogeneity across the field of view is straightforward.
• High-quality, RF inhomogeneity-corrected 3D TQ sodium images were acquired from the human brain in 20 minutes at 3.0 T.

Conclusions:

• The presented imaging scheme allows for efficient generation of TQ sodium brain images.
• The method overcomes limitations of previous TQ sodium imaging techniques regarding RF inhomogeneity.
• This approach is suitable for routine clinical examinations, enhancing diagnostic capabilities.