Proton T2 relaxation of cerebral metabolites of normal human brain over large TE range

T2 of NAA, creatine and choline-containing compounds were measured in posterior frontal white matter and occipital grey matter in 10 healthy human volunteers. Decay curves comprised signals from eight TE times ranging from 30 to 800 ms with TR 2000 ms acquired with a PRESS sequence on a 1.5 T clinical scanner. Simulations were conducted to assess the precision of T2 estimates from decay curves comprising varying numbers and ranges of TE points. Mean and standard errors for T2s of NAA, creatine and choline-containing compounds were 300(8), 169(3) and 239(4) ms in posterior frontal white matter and 256(6), 159(8) and 249(8) ms in occipital grey matter. In vivo T2s found for choline and NAA were shorter than the T2s in the literature. The elevation of literature T2s is accounted for by the simulation results, which demonstrated that there is a bias towards lengthened T2s when T2 is measured with a maximum TE approximately T2. Concentration estimates are at risk of being underestimated if previously reported T2 corrections are used.