Jun Xu1, 2, John D. West1, Andrew J. Saykin1, Ulrike Dydak, 12
1Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medcine, Indianapolis, IN, United States; 2school of Health Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
An automated analysis of 3D MRSI data is being presented, which takes into account contributions from specific brain structures to each MRSI spectrum and thus allows obtaining brain region specific metabolite values. We demonstrate on the example of hippocampus data extracted from a 3D MRSI dataset that this type of brain-region specific analysis if more sensitive to small neurochemical changes occurring only in one brain structure, but not in adjacent ones, than current analysis methods. The method has been developed for an easy and sensitive comparison of metabolite levels of specific brain structures across groups in clinical studies.