[Evaluation of cerebral ischemia with metabolic image by using 3D-CSI--comparing with SPECT and PET]

MR spectroscopy(MRS) is a powerful method to evaluate brain metabolism directly and non-invasively. We developed 3D-CSI method as a multi-voxel MRS. It has some advantages or single-voxel MRS; 1) spectra in many voxels can be acquired simultaneously 2) Mapping of metabolites can be acquired 3) A small size voxel can be obtained. It make it possible to evaluate the change of NAA in wide area. In case of cerebral ischemia, we found the tendency that NAA decreases in fatal damage area and is normal in recoverable damage area. Therefore, we suppose that NAA could be a indicator of viability of neuron. It is necessary to coordinate the data from MRI/ MRS and PET/SPECT for analyzing the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia.