Sensitivity encoding (SENSE) offers a new, highly effective approach to reducing the acquisition time in spectroscopic imaging (SI). In contrast to conventional fast SI techniques, which accelerate k-space sampling, this method permits reducing the number of phase encoding steps in each phase encoding dimension of conventional SI. Using a coil array for data acquisition, the missing encoding information is recovered exploiting knowledge of the distinct spatial sensitivities of the individual coil elements. In this work, SENSE is applied to 2D spectroscopic imaging. Fourfold reduction of scan time is achieved at preserved spectral and spatial resolution, maintaining a reasonable SNR. The basic properties of the proposed method are demonstrated by phantom experiments. The in vivo feasibility of SENSE-SI is verified by metabolic imaging of N-acetylaspartate, creatine, and choline in the human brain. These results are compared to conventional SI, with special attention to the spatial response and the SNR.
Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.