Proton CSI without solvent suppression with strongly reduced field gradient related sideband artifacts

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Spectroscopy
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Non-water-suppressed MRSI offers advantages but suffers from sideband artifacts.
• These artifacts are linked to gradient coil vibrations, primarily crusher gradients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between crusher gradient direction and sideband artifacts.
• To explore optimization of the Point Resolved Spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence to mitigate these artifacts.

Main Methods:

• Spectra were acquired from a water phantom at 3 T with short echo time.
• An agar phantom assessed optimal crusher gradient strength.
• An optimized PRESS sequence was tested in vivo.

Main Results:

• The x-direction crusher gradient showed the most significant sideband artifacts.
• Reducing crusher strength to 5 mT/m substantially minimized sidebands.
• This reduction did not increase unwanted signals from volume selection.

Conclusions:

• Crusher gradients in different directions create distinct sideband patterns.
• Optimizing crusher strength effectively reduces sidebands.
• Remaining artifacts can be managed through postprocessing.