[In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy].

Magnetic resonance tomography (MR) has become a highly useful tool for diagnostic imaging. The technology is in a process of rapid development with new and better methods emerging for the imaging of anatomic and pathologic aspects. With some additional equipment, the MR instrument may also be used for in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). In vivo MRS provides biochemical information about metabolites in a given tissue volume. This type of biochemical information can be extracted from volumes the size of a sugar lump within a recording period of about five minutes. New technologies also allow extracting such information from several volumes during one recording in which the information is processed as metabolic pictures. The method has found clinical applications in several fields, including the evaluation of brain tumours and epilepsy. The use of in vivo MRS will probably increase in the years ahead, especially, perhaps, for the follow-up of various therapeutic regimens. All suppliers of MR equipment now provide in vivo MRS sets and routines for recording and data analysis have become very user-friendly.