How to do Cardiac Single Voxel ¹H SpectroscopyMorten Asp Vonsild Lund, M.D., et al.

Department of Cardiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Children’s Obesity Clinic, Department of Pediatrics, Holbæk Hospital, Holbæk, Denmark
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

¹H cardiac spectroscopy can be performed using either a spin-echo (PRESS) or stimulated-echo (STEAM) excitation scheme. In the article, we describe the procedures of performing single voxel 1H spectroscopy in the myocardium at using a MAGNETOM Aera 1.5T and a MAGNETOM Prisma 3T.

The protocols we use are based on the standard PRESS sequence supplied with the Siemens Spectroscopy package and are tailored for the quantification of myocardial triglycerides content. Specifically, the integral areas of lipids and water resonance respectively are assessed via two separate scans and used to calculate the triglycerides-to-water ratio.