A Novel Method to Estimate 23Na Triple Quantum (TQ) Signal: Spin Echo Sequence, Impact of Noise and Proof-of-Concept Imaging

Motivation: Sodium TQ-signal is potential viable biomarker for cell viability. However, TQ acquisition requires phase-cycling sequences with long scan times, which currently hinder clinical application. Goal(s): We present a novel method to estimate the TQ-signal directly from the FID without phase-cycling. Approach: Compare the our method's TQ-signal with the TQTPPI sequence and theoretical prediction. Investigate the impact of noisy data on our method and provide a proof-of-concept imaging sequence. Results: The TQ-signal of our method was in close agreement with the TQTPPI TQ-signal and the theoretical prediction. Even for low SNR, our method performed well. Proof-of-concept imaging with our method was successfully demonstrated. Impact: With our method scan time of sodium TQ imaging can be dramatically reduced. This approach may expand TQ imaging applications and thus may leverage the full potential of sodium TQ signal.