Initial experience of proton short echo MR spectroscopy of human brain at 5T

Motivation: Proton short echo (TE≤10ms) MR spectroscopy of human brain at high magnetic fields (≥3T) provides abundant metabolic information beyond MR images, but remains challenging for routine clinical usages beyond 3T. Goal(s): To evaluate feasibility and assess quality of proton ultrashort echo (i.e.10ms) MR spectroscopy of human brain on a clinical, whole-body 5T MRI system. Approach: Stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) spectra with TE=10ms were obtained in human brain at 3T and 5T. Results: The feasibility of short echo MR spectroscopy of human brain at 5T was first demonstrated. The spectral quality is substantially improved when compared to 3T. Impact: The quality of short echo MR spectra at 5T could be reached without exceeding the SAR and thus may offer additional metabolite information for large amount of clinical diagnostic applications.