The Estimation of Local Brain Temperature by <i>in Vivo</i>¹H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract Brain temperature may be important for investigating pathology and cerebroprotective effects of pharmaceuticals and hypothermia. Two methods for estimating temperature using 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy are described: a partially water‐suppressed binomial sequence and non‐water‐suppressed point‐resolved spectroscopy. Relative to N ‐acetylaspartate (Naa), water chemical shift (θ H2O‐Naa ) in piglet brain depended linearly on temperature from 30° to 40°C: temperature was 286.9–94.0 θ H2O‐Naa ° C. Thalamic temperature in six normal infants was 38.1° ± 0.4° C indicating that local brain temperature could be estimated with adequate sensitivity for studying pathologic and therapeutic changes.