The Estimation of Local Brain Temperature by in Vivo1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Abstract
Brain temperature may be important for investigating pathology and cerebroprotective effects of pharmaceuticals and hypothermia. Two methods for estimating temperature using 1H 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 (θH2O-Naa) in piglet brain depended linearly on temperature from 30° to 40°C: temperature was 286.9–94.0 θH2O-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.