In vivo nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift imaging by selective irradiation.

NMR images of preselected chemically shifted species can be obtained by selective irradiation of the remainder of the NMR chemical shift spectrum prior to application of a conventional NMR imaging sequence. The chemical-selective irradiation consists of narrow-bandwidth pi/2 or saturation radio-frequency pulses applied in the absence of imaging gradients. The technique permits substantial reductions in scan and reconstruction times over standard three- and four-dimensional Fourier transform chemical-shift-imaging methods, when images of few spectral peaks are desired. It is also suitable for the elimination of chemical shift artifacts in conventional high-field NMR imaging. In vivo applications of the technique to the head and limbs in a 1.5-T magnetic field yield 1H H2O and -CH2-images, with little detectable -CH2- in muscle and brain.