Premium
Sodium quantification in the spinal cord at 3T
Author(s) -
Solanky Bhavana S.,
Riemer Frank,
Golay Xavier,
WheelerKingshott Claudia A. M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.24696
Subject(s) - sodium , magnetic resonance imaging , spinal cord , imaging phantom , in vivo , reproducibility , nuclear magnetic resonance , in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy , coefficient of variation , biomedical engineering , chemistry , nuclear medicine , medicine , radiology , biology , neuroscience , chromatography , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , organic chemistry
Purpose: Sodium channels are involved in neuronal function and therefore methods to assess tissue sodium concentration in vivo are exceptionally appealing. Recently there has been a renewed interest for brain sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), thanks to higher magnetic field strength scanners. However, sodium measures in the spinal cord are lacking due to major technical challenges. Here we propose for the first time a clinically feasible non‐invasive method for quantifying sodium in the spine using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Methods: Sodium spectra from the cervical cord were collected using image selected in vivo spectroscopy (∼14 min scan time) and quantified using a reference phantom. Results: The sodium magnetic resonance spectroscopy measures provided in vivo concentration estimates of 31.2 ± 2.4 mM. Repeat scans showed good reproducibility with a coefficient of variation of <6%. Conclusion: Proposed here for the first time is a fast non‐invasive technique to quantify total sodium in the spinal cord in vivo. This newly proposed technique has a great potential for translation into clinic, thanks to its simplicity. Magn Reson Med 69:1201–1208, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.