Magnetization transfer in hemopoietic bone marrow examined by localized proton spectroscopy

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Abstract
The sensitivity of hemopoietic bone marrow to magnetization transfer is analyzed in 15 healthy volunteers and seven patients with different hematological disorders (inflammation, plasmacytoma, hemopoietic reconstitution after bone marrow transplantation). To obtain sufficient signal‐to‐noise ratio, a 90° −180° −180° double spin echo (PRESS) single voxel spectroscopic method was combined with pulsed magnetization transfer. Several spectra were recorded from each volume element inside the vertebral marrow, alternately with and without prepulses for magnetization transfer. Water signals from marrow with increased content of extracellular water due to inflammation or edema revealed less magnetization transfer effects than marrow with increased intracellular water content due to high cellularity. The preliminary results show magnetization transfer to be a promising tool for the clinically important characterization of the water composition in red bone marrow.