Magnetic resonance spectroscopy standardization and protocol development

Three separate experiments were conducted in order to develop a protocol for collecting magnetic resonance (MR) data using the MR unit at Vancouver Hospital - UBC Site. These experiments examined solutions at millimolar concentrations of N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA), Choline (Clio), Creatine (Cr), and myo-Inositol (mI). The 1H NMR signal from these metabolites varied linearly with their concentration. Various agar gels were made with an NAA solution. The T2 relaxation time of the water signal varied with gel strength. No correlation was seen with the NAA signal T2 time. The scaling factor between the spectroscopy signal and a modified CPMG sequence signal was 2.19 x 10 to the power of 5. Theoretical justification is given for choosing TE and TR times for the MRS protocol. The TE and TR times accurately described the water relaxation as was verified by other techniques. The protocol did not fully characterize the metabolites and the quantification method over-estimated their concentrations.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat