Proton MR Spectroscopy of the Hippocampus at 3 T

Purpose: To optimize MRS acquisitions in the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) at 3 Tesla and to investigate the feasibility of accurate and reliable determination of hippocampal metabolite concentrations. Method and Materials: On a clinical 3.0 T whole-body MR system (Gyroscan Intera 3.0 T, Philips Medical Systems), PRESS- localized single-voxel MRS with water suppression by dual inversion prepulses, TR 2000 ms, and echo times TE of 30 ms and 140 ms was performed in the MTL of 16 healthy volunteers. In 13 of these subjects, absolute metabolite concentrations of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), of total creatine (tCr), of cho…