3-D FLASH imaging using a single surface coil and a new adiabatic pulse, BIR-4.

A new adiabatic pulse, which can induce uniform and arbitrary flip angles despite the presence of transmitter coil magnetic field (B1) inhomogeneities, is employed for 3-D fast imaging using a single surface coil for pulse transmission and signal detection. Computer calculations and phantom, rat, and human surface coil imaging experiments demonstrate the utility of this adiabatic pulse for T1-weighted imaging with a transmitter coil which generates a highly inhomogeneous B1 field profile.

Spatially localized in vivo 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy of an intracerebral rat glioma.

Surface coil MRI combined with spatially localized spectroscopy was used to noninvasively detect 1H signals from metabolites within an intracerebral malignant glioma in rats. The MRS pulse sequence was based upon two-dimensional ISIS, which restricted 1H signals to a column-shaped volume, combined with one-dimensional spectroscopic imaging, which further resolved the signals into 8 or 16 slices along the major axis of the column. All experiments were executed with adiabatic pulses which induced uniform spin excitation despite the inhomogeneous radiofrequency field distribution produced by the surface coil transmitter. Surface coil MRI and MRS experiments were performed on phantom samples, normal rat brains, and rat brains harboring malignant gliomas. Spatially resolved in vivo 1H spectra of intracerebral gliomas revealed significantly decreased concentrations of N-acetyl-aspartate and creatine and increased lactic acid (or lipids) as compared to the contralateral hemisphere. These results demonstrate that metabolic abnormalities in intracerebral rat gliomas can be spatially resolved in a noninvasive manner using localized in vivo 1H MRS.