Ultrahigh-Resolution Mapping of Brain Metabolic Structures at Ultrahigh Field

Motivation: Metabolic imaging using MRSI has long been limited to low resolution, restricting its ability to capture fine metabolic structures. Goal(s): To achieve high-resolution mapping of brain metabolic structures by leveraging the power of ultrahigh field MR. Approach: An FID-EPSI based sequence was used with extended readouts for data acquisition, achieving an isotropic nominal resolution of 1.8 mm. In data processing, model-based methods were applied for ghost correction, denoising, and de-aliasing to produce high-quality ultrahigh-resolution MRSI results. Results: The proposed method enabled ultrahigh-resolution metabolic imaging at 7T, which allowed for detailed visualization of metabolite distributions in the brain. Impact: This work demonstrates the feasibility of ultrahigh-resolution mapping of brain metabolic structures using MRSI. The proposed method offers a new potential for exploring brain metabolism with unprecedented details.