Quantitative MRS: comparison of time domain and time domain frequency domain methods using a novel test procedure

For quantitative analysis of in vivo MR spectra, a state-of-the-art time domain method was compared with a recently reported time domain frequency domain method which uses wavelets for background characterization. The comparison was made on the basis of results for simulated test problems that were constructed by combining measured and simulated MRS data at different signal-to-noise ratios in order to simultaneously reflect real world difficulties, in particular the overlapping background problem, and to allow for quantitative judgment of a method’s accuracy. Incorporating prior knowledge was also considered. The results obtained give insight into the accuracy of the methods when applied to measured MRS data. Due to the improved background characterization, the time domain frequency domain method outperformed the time domain method in some of the test cases. Both methods were also applied to serial brain MR spectra of a healthy volunteer on 10 occasions.