Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI), a functional MR imaging technique, has proven via the identification of metabolite biomarkers to be useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of numerous diseases, for example brain tumours. However, a number of factors impede its routine clinical use: i) long acquisition times mean its use is limited to low resolution 2-dimensional slabs, ii) large quantity of data produced means its interpretation can be time consuming and iii) data quality can be variable and therefore interpretation can be difficult for a non-expert. Further developments in MRSI are designed to reduce the impact of these issues. The focus of this work is to address some of the above issues; developing acquisition protocols and optimising analysis methods in order to increase the clinical feasibility of MRSI. Within this study a fast-MRSI protocol has been developed for absolute metabolite quantitation and has demonstrated its feasibility for clinical use, accurately reproducing data in a shorter clinically feasible acquisition time. An experimentally derived fitting model has been developed which increases metabolite measurement accuracy. Finally, a 3D MRSI protocol has been successfully optimized allowing robust metabolite information to be mapped throughout the brain.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:742577 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Sawbridge, Rebecca Joanne |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8050/ |
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