Rationale and objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and compare two methods for quantification of metabolite concentrations in human skeletal muscle using phased-array receiver coils at 3T.
Materials and methods: Water suppressed and un-suppressed spectra were recorded from the quadriceps muscle (vastus medialis) in 8 healthy adult volunteers, and from a calibration phantom containing 69mM/L N-acetyl aspartate. Using the phantom replacement technique, trimethylamine specifically [TMA] and creatine [Cr] concentrations were estimated, and compared to those values obtained by using the water reference method.
Results: Quadriceps [TMA] concentrations were 9.5±2.4 and 9.6±4.1mmol/kg wet weight using the phantom replacement and water referencing methods respectively, while [Cr] concentrations were 26.8±12.2 and 24.1±5.3mmol/kg wet weight respectively.
Conclusions: Reasonable agreement between water referencing and phantom replacement methods was found, although for [Cr] variation was significantly higher for the phantom replacement technique. The relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed.
Keywords: MR spectroscopy; Muscle; Phantom replacement; Quantitation.
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