Intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) and tissue ordering effects observed by 1H-MRSI at 3 Tesla

1H-MR spectroscopy of intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) became an important tool in diabetes research and physiology, since there is a complex relation between IMCL and insulin sensitivity. Single voxel techniques at 1.5T often suffer from substantial overlapping of the IMCL resonances by the signals from bulk fat (extramyocellular lipids, EMCL), particularly in obese patients. We present here MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) studies in human calf muscles on a 3T MR scanner (Siemens, TRIO), (A) to compare the separation of IMCL and EMCL with 1.5T, (B) to investigate residual coupling in muscles with different fiber…