QUALITY-CONTROL FOR LOCALIZED IN-VIVO PROTON SPECTROSCOPY WITH CLINICAL MR EQUIPMENT

The localisation techniques STEAM and PRESS using echo times of 135 ms were tested for their performance. The selection parameters selection efficiency, contamination and outer volume suppression factor were determined as well as the quality of water suppression and the linearity of signal intensities versus concentrations. Using a voxel size of 2 x 2 x 2 cm3 PRESS localisation showed better values for the selection parameters than STEAM: selection efficiency: 6.0 vs. 4.6 %, contamination: 0.70 vs. 3.26%, outer volume suppression factor: 220,000 vs. 60,000. Signal intensities showed good linearity (r2 = 0.9996) with concentrations of more than 10 mM, but below that concentration deviation of more than 10% should be taken into account. Measurements for quality assessment are important to optimise measurement protocols and for estimating the clinical value of in vivo measurements.