2-D magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of the pediatric brain using compressed sensing

Background: Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging helps to determine abnormal brain tissue conditions by evaluating metabolite concentrations. Although a powerful technique, it is underutilized in routine clinical studies because of its long scan times. Objective: In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of scan time reduction in metabolic imaging using compressed-sensing-based MR spectroscopic imaging in pediatric patients undergoing routine brain exams. Materials and methods: We retrospectively evaluated compressed-sensing reconstructions in MR spectroscopic imaging datasets from 20 pediatric patients (11 males, 9 females; average age: 5.4±4.5 years; age range: 3 days to 16 years). We performed retrospective under-sampling of the MR spectroscopic imaging datasets to simulate accelerations of 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 7- and 10-fold, with subsequent reconstructions in MATLAB. Metabolite maps of N-acetylaspartate, creatine, choline and lactate (where applicable) were quantitatively evaluated in terms of the root-mean-square error (RMSE), peak amplitudes and total scan time. We used the two-tailed paired t-test along with linear regression analysis to statistically compare the compressed-sensing reconstructions at each acceleration with the fully sampled reference dataset. Results: High fidelity was maintained in the compressed-sensing MR spectroscopic imaging reconstructions from 50% to 80% under-sampling, with the RMSE not exceeding 3% in any dataset. Metabolite intensities and ratios evaluated on a voxel-by-voxel basis showed no statistically significant differences and mean metabolite intensities showed high correlation compared to the fully sampled reference dataset up to an acceleration factor of 5. Conclusion: Compressed-sensing MR spectroscopic imaging has the potential to reduce MR spectroscopic imaging scan times for pediatric patients, with negligible information loss.