H-MR spectroscopic imaging of the human brain using adiabatic refocusing pulses at 7T

Purpose: Proton MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI), the preferred method of choice to detect the spatial distribution of metabolites in the human brain, is challenging on high field systems. To overcome inhomogeneity of the B1 transmit field, and the increased chemical shift displacement error (CSDE) when moving to 7T, we used adiabatic refocusing pulses with sharp slice selection profiles to produce a localized spin echo. Material and methods: Two healthy volunteers were examined on a 7T whole body MR system: one with a transmit receive circularly polarized head coil, and the other with a small home-built transmit…