Three-dimensional proton MR spectroscopic imaging of premature and term neonates

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Previous studies have primarily used single-voxel tech-niques to obtain MR spectra from the neonatal brain. In this study, we applied 3D MR spec-troscopic imaging techniques to detect the spatial distribution of MR spectroscopic imaging– detectable compounds in premature and term infants. The goals were to test the feasibility of obtaining 3D MR spectroscopic images of newborns, assess the spatial variations of metabolite levels, and determine age-dependent differences in MR spectroscopic imaging data. METHODS: MR spectroscopic imaging data were acquired from nine premature (postcon-ceptional age, 30–34 weeks) and eight term (postconceptional age, 38–42 weeks) neonates, all with normal clinical and neurologic outcomes. A specialized point-resolved spectroscopy se-quence with very selective saturation pulses was used to select a region encompassing the majority of the brain. Phase encoding in three dimensions was performed in a 17-minute acquisition time to obtain 3D spectral arrays with a 1.0 cm3 nominal spatial resolution. RESULTS: This study showed the feasibility of detecting the 3D distributions of choline, creatine, and N-acetylaspartate resonances in the neonatal brain. Significant spectral differ-ences were detected among anatomic locations and between the premature and term groups