A comparison of some gradient‐encoded volume‐selection techniques for in vivo NMR spectroscopy

Four of the techniques proposed for in vivo volume‐selected NMR spectroscopy have been compared using a simple phantom with a large background water signal which was outside the region of interest. The methods VSE, SPACE, SPARS, and DIGGER all use pulsed field gradients for spatial encoding and were tested with a symmetric and an asymmetric phantom. SPACE was used to obtain volume‐selected 1 H NMR spectra of a human leg, demonstrating excellent discrimination between bone marrow and muscle. © 1987 Academic Press, Inc.