Yi Sui1,2, Haoyang Xing2,
Theodore Claiborne2, Keith R. Thulborn, 2,3, Xiaohong
Joe Zhou, 2,4
1Department of Bioengineering, University
of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 2Center for
Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago,
IL, United States; 3Department of Radiology, University of
Illinois Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States; 4Departments
of Radiology, Neurosurgery and Bioengineering, University of Illinois Medical
Center, Chicago, IL, United States
In
this study, we report a spatial-spectral (SPSP) pulse that is tailored for
selectively exciting the phosphocreatine (PCr) resonance at 9.4T while
suppressing all other major phosphorus metabolites including inorganic
phosphate and adenosine triphosphates. Using this pulse in conjunction with a
RARE sequence, we have obtained PCr images from phantoms (50 mM) and the
lower extremity of human volunteers in 10 minutes on a 9.4T whole-body
scanner. With an in-plane spatial resolution of 7.5mm x 7.5mm, the PCr images show anatomic
details with an adequate signal to noise ratio (SNR=14).