A high spatial resolution 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging technique for breast cancer with a short echo time

The high sensitivity but low specificity of breast MRI has prompted exploration of breast 1H MRS for breast cancer detection. However, several obstacles still prevent the routine application of in vivo breast 1H MRS, including poor spatial resolution, long acquisition time associated with conventional multi-voxel MRS imaging (MRSI) techniques, and the difficulty of “extra” lipid suppression in a magnetic field with relatively poor achievable homogeneity compared to the brain. Using a combination of a recently developed echo-filter (EF) suppression technique and an elliptical sampling scheme, we demonstrate the feasibility of overcoming these difficulties. It is robust (the suppression technique is insensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneity), fast (acquisition time of about 12 min) and offers high spatial resolution (up to 0.6 cm3 per voxel at 1.5 T with a TE of only 60 ms). This approach should be even better at 3 T with higher resolution and/or shorter TE.