TY - JOUR
T1 - Metabolite ratios to assumed stable creatine level may confound the quantification of proton brain MR spectroscopy
AU - Li, Belinda S.Y.
AU - Wang, Hao
AU - Gonen, Oded
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Drs. Andrew A. Maudsley and Brian J. Soher of UCSF and the SF Veteran’s Administration Medical Center for the use of their FITT spectral estimation software. This work was supported by NIH Grants CA92547, EB01015, NS39135, and NS37739.
PY - 2003/10
Y1 - 2003/10
N2 - In localized brain proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS), metabolites' levels are often expressed as ratios, rather than as absolute concentrations. Frequently, their denominator is the creatine [Cr], which level is explicitly assumed to be stable in normal as well as in many pathologic states. The rationale is that ratios self-correct for imager and localization method differences, gain instabilities, regional susceptibility variations and partial volume effects. The implicit assumption is that these benefits are worth their costw-w propagation of the individual variation of each of the ratio's components. To test this hypothesis, absolute levels of N-acetylaspartate [NAA], choline [Cho] and [Cr] were quantified in various regions of the brains of 8 volunteers, using 3-dimensional (3D) 1H-MRS at 1.5 T. The results show that in over 50% of ∼2000 voxels examined, [NAA]/[Cr] and [Cho]/[Cr] exhibited higher coefficients of variations (CV) than [NAA] and [Cho] individually. Furthermore, in ∼33% of these voxels, the ratios' CVs exceeded even the combined constituents' CVs. Consequently, basing metabolite quantification on ratios and assuming stable [Cr] introduces more variability into 1H-MRS than it prevents. Therefore, its cost exceeds the benefit.
AB - In localized brain proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS), metabolites' levels are often expressed as ratios, rather than as absolute concentrations. Frequently, their denominator is the creatine [Cr], which level is explicitly assumed to be stable in normal as well as in many pathologic states. The rationale is that ratios self-correct for imager and localization method differences, gain instabilities, regional susceptibility variations and partial volume effects. The implicit assumption is that these benefits are worth their costw-w propagation of the individual variation of each of the ratio's components. To test this hypothesis, absolute levels of N-acetylaspartate [NAA], choline [Cho] and [Cr] were quantified in various regions of the brains of 8 volunteers, using 3-dimensional (3D) 1H-MRS at 1.5 T. The results show that in over 50% of ∼2000 voxels examined, [NAA]/[Cr] and [Cho]/[Cr] exhibited higher coefficients of variations (CV) than [NAA] and [Cho] individually. Furthermore, in ∼33% of these voxels, the ratios' CVs exceeded even the combined constituents' CVs. Consequently, basing metabolite quantification on ratios and assuming stable [Cr] introduces more variability into 1H-MRS than it prevents. Therefore, its cost exceeds the benefit.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0242580198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0242580198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0730-725X(03)00181-4
DO - 10.1016/S0730-725X(03)00181-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 14599543
AN - SCOPUS:0242580198
SN - 0730-725X
VL - 21
SP - 923
EP - 928
JO - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
JF - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
IS - 8
ER -