Volumetric MR Spectroscopic Imaging with Reduced K-Space Acquisitions: Variability and Pathologic Detectability in Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries

Mohammad Sabati¹, Jiping Zhan¹, Varan Govind¹, Kristopher L. Arheart², Andrew A. Maudsley¹

Several parallel imaging (PI) techniques have been developed for MRSI to reduce data acquisition times. MRSI methods, however, are often sensitivity-limited, and only a few reports have studied the resultant impact that PI may have when applied to MRSI on the outcome of diagnostic accuracy. It therefore remains unknown whether the clinical diagnostic value is maintained for PI-enabled MRSI to detect subtle pathology? This question is addressed by implementing a GRAPPA-MRSI within a fully-automated data processing pipeline and evaluating it using subjects with mild traumatic brain injury who represents a patient group for which the metabolic changes are relatively subtle and diffuse.