Improved SNR Triple-Quantum Filtration in Sodium MRI

Nadia Benkhedah¹, Peter Bachert¹, Wolfhard Semmler¹, Armin M. Nagel¹

Triple-quantum filtered (TQF) sodium images were proposed to image intracellular sodium ions. However, TQF images suffer from signal to noise ratios (SNR) an order of magnitude lower than normal sodium images. TQF image contrast can be generated by the difference of a tissue sodium concentration weighted image and a single-quantum filtered image acquired in one measurement. The developed method is evaluated on both, phantom and in vivo data. Images generated with this new difference image method show significantly higher SNR and seem to be less sensitive to main magnetic field inhomogeneities.