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Magnetic resonance imaging and water-suppressed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging were used to study N-acetylaspartate and other metabolities in a patient with severe bypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.The N-acetylaspartate signal,a putative marker of neuronal density,was markedly reduced in the forebrain.The relative signal intensity of choline-containing metabolites,which are more abundant in astrocytes than neurons,was increased.These results support the hypothesis that water- suppressed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging measurements of N-acetylaspartate may be useful for noninvasive detection of elective neuronal loss in a variety of disease states in the human brain. |
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