ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the utility of the fast Pade transform (FPT) for estimations of time signals encoded by means of in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The convergence rate of the FPT was monitored by gradually including more and more signal points in the computations. It was observed that the results of the FPT for one half and the full signal length were indistinguishable from the background noise. The convergence pattern of the spectra predicted by the FPT was strikingly stable without spikes or any other spectral deformations. The FPT yielded excellent estimates of the main metabolites even for a quarter of the full signal length. The FPT(-) can extract vital information about short-lived metabolites that are conventionally detectable only at very short echo times. The obtained unprecedented, steady and fast convergence of the FPT(-) sharply contrasts with most non-linear estimators that wildly oscillate before eventually stabilizing and only then perhaps converging.
