Joachim B. Kaffanke1,2, Sandro B. Romanzetti1, N. Jon Shah1,2
1Institute of Neurosciences and Biophysics, Research Centre Juelich, Juelich, Germany; 2Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, JARA, Aachen, Germany
A SPRITE sequence was developed for sodium in vivo imaging applications. The sequence was extended by multiple point acquisition, conical k-space trajectory, repetition time and flip angle reduction to reduce acquisition time and SAR and a phase cycling filter for suppression of residual signal artefacts. The image reconstruction with the chirp z-transform was improved by use of an algorithm for resolution enhancement. The success of the method was demonstrated by imaging a human brain tumour. The sodium imaging results are compared with FET-PET and proton MR imaging.