Role of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Evaluation of Congenital/Developmental Brain Abnormalities

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is an invaluable tool to study brain development and in vivo metabolism of brain. MRS is a noninvasive method and also does not involve ionizing radiation. The spectral patterns obtained from MRS evaluation provide unique information about the neonatal brain in several disease processes including hypoxic-ischemic injury, white matter and metabolic disorders, seizure disorders, and brain tumors. MRS also provides quantitative information about specific metabolites that is useful in the diagnosis and in evaluating treatment response of the disease. This discussion is limited to the use of MRS in evaluation of congenital or developmental brain abnormalities. The discussion of clinical utility of MRS is preceded by a brief overview of the technical aspects of MRS, followed by description of normal brain spectra in the neonates and the changes with normal brain development.