Computation of brain metabolite ratios in single-voxel proton MR spectroscopy: comparison between semiautomatic and automatic software

Radiol Med. 2010 Feb;115(1):125-32. doi: 10.1007/s11547-009-0408-4. Epub 2009 Jun 26.
[Article in English, Italian]

Abstract

Purpose: Metabolite ratios are the measurements most commonly utilised for clinical applications of brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) [1]. We evaluated the agreement between the metabolite ratios calculated with semiautomatic and automatic software.

Materials and methods: Two single-voxel spectra (3.375 ml) localised in the frontal grey matter (GM) and peritrigonal white matter (WM) were obtained in 20 healthy subjects by using a point-resolved proton spectroscopy sequence (PRESS, TE=144 ms). The spectra were processed using the semiautomatic software J-Magnetic Resonance User Interface (JMRUI) and the automatic software SpectroView. Agreement of the N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr), NAA/choline (Cho) and Cho/Cr ratios calculated with the two methods was assessed by estimating the 95% limits of agreement (LAs) of the differences of the values obtained with the two software packages.

Results: Mean values and standard deviations of NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr and NAA/Cho (semiautomatic//automatic software) were 1.99+/-0.53//1.73+/-0.36, 1.13+/-0.40//1.04+/-0.33, 1.85+/-0.62//1.89+/-0.69 for the GM and 2.24+/-0.41//2.37+/-0.27, 0.96+/-0.17//1.13+/-0.15, 2.37+/-0.43//2.11+/-0.23 for the WM. The 95% LAs were wider for GM spectra and ranged between -0.51, 0.17 for Cho/Cr in the WM and -1.54, 1.47 for NAA/Cho in the GM.

Conclusions: The difference between brain metabolite ratios calculated with the two software packages is not negligible and reflects spectral quality.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aspartic Acid / analogs & derivatives
  • Aspartic Acid / metabolism
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Brain Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Choline / metabolism
  • Creatine / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy* / methods
  • Male
  • Odds Ratio
  • Protons
  • Reference Values
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Software*

Substances

  • Protons
  • Aspartic Acid
  • Creatine
  • Choline