B1 and T1 insensitive water and lipid suppression using optimized multiple frequency-selective preparation pulses for whole-brain 1H spectroscopic imaging at 3T.

A new method for the simultaneous suppression of water and lipid resonances using a series of dual-band frequency-selective radiofrequency (RF) pulses with associated dephasing gradients is presented. By optimizing the nutation angles of the individual pulses, the water and lipid suppression is made insensitive to a range of both T1-relaxation times and B1 inhomogeneities. The method consists only of preparatory RF pulses and thus can be combined with a wide variety of MRSI schemes including both long and short TE studies. Simulations yield suppression factors, in the presence of +/-20% B1 inhomogeneity, on the order of 100 for lipid peaks with three different T1s (300 ms, 310 ms, and 360 ms), and water peaks with T1s ranging from 0.8 s to 4 s. Excellent in vivo study performance is demonstrated using a 3 Tesla volumetric proton spectroscopic imaging (1H-MRSI) sequence for measuring the primary brain metabolites peaks of choline (Cho), creatine (Cr), and N-acetyl aspartate (NAA). Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.