The rapid and automatic combination of proton MRSI data using multi-channel coils without water suppression

The use of multi-channel coils can efficiently increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of magnetic resonance spectroscopy data if the signals from multiple channels are optimally combined. Combining multi-channel signals requires proper alignment of the phases of the signals from each of the elements of the coil and then accurately weighting the summation of those signals. We present a procedure for acquiring proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) data using an eight-channel coil without water suppression and a rapid and robust method that uses unsuppressed water signal as a reference both for aligning the phases and for weighting the summation of signals that originate in the multiple coil elements. We use both computer simulation and in vivo proton MRSI data to demonstrate the advantages of our method for optimizing the SNR of the combined signal compared with the SNRs of signals that were acquired either using a standard volume head coil or using an eight-channel coil with a metabolite signal as the reference for combination.