Selective Excitation of Metabolite Signals for 1H MRS

Mirjam Holbach¹, Joerg Lambert², Dieter Suter

Selective excitation of metabolite signals in in vivo MRS is important for the correct and robust quantification of the content of some key metabolites, which is of particular relevance in low field strength MRS, where signal overlap and low intensities impede quantification of MRS signals. In this study a Krotov-based optimal control theory approach is used to develop optimized pulse shapes for the selective excitation of individual metabolites. The resulting pulses were investigated by simulation of the corresponding spectra, which were then verified using experimental data. Further simulations of the performance of such pulses show an enhanced robustness to experimental imperfections compared to standard pulses.