Water-cycled STEAM cardiac spectroscopy at 7T

Motivation: Creatine and choline hold central roles in cellular energy metabolism. High-quality measurements of these metabolites in the heart provide key insights into cellular health and cardiac metabolism. Goal(s): The aim of this work is to measure the percentage fraction of choline, creatine (CH3) and lipid methylene in the heart using water-suppression cycling (WSC) at 7T. Approach: Hearts of six healthy volunteers were scanned using WSC and results were compared with standard water-suppressed (WS) acquisitions. Results: Creatine and Choline were detected in four pairs of WSC and WS acquisitions. However, WSC provided better water alignment than WS, resulting in improved creatine and choline detection. Impact: Frequency-aligned spectra from water-suppression cycled acquisitions enable the quantification of low-concentration metabolites in the heart at 7T.