Common intracranial tumors are characterized by MRSI using single voxel or multivoxel at 30ms and 135ms. Using the metabolites in MRSI the perilesional invasion of intracranial tumor can be differentiated from vasogenic edema. Preoperative diagnosis of tumor grade - differentiation between high-grade and low-grade tumors.

Patients with radiologically suspected untreated brain tumors underwent high-resolution proton MRS imaging and MR imaging before undergoing surgery. Data acquired using Poitn RESolved Spectroscopy (PRESS) pulse sequence with automatic shimming and Gausian water suppression.Measurement parameters used in short TE were 1500/30ms (TR/TE) and in long TE 1500/135ms (TR/TE). Histopathological diagnosis was obtained via either surgical biopsies or resection from locations similar to the voxel placement in MR spectroscopy imaging. MR spectral voxels were retrospectively centered on each of locations, and metabolite levels were correlated with...

MR spectra from each patient were acquired from the intratumoral, peritumoral and contral lateral normal area. Spectroscopic color maps of Choline, NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr and Cho/NAA ratios are obtained. Low grade gliomas: Lesion shows variable amounts of Cho elevation and NAA decrement(Figure 1). On short TE, intratumoral ratios of Cho/Cr and and NAA/Cr are increased and peritumoral ratios of Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr are mildly increased compared to normal contralateral activity(Table 1). On long TE, Cho/NAA ratio is increased in peritumoral region(Table 2). High grade gliomas: Lesion...

MR spectroscopy imaging provides information on the biochemical profile of a tissue and is increasingly being used as a non-invasive method for the detection and grading of brain tumors. Tumor invasion can be assessed through the neuronal cell damage in its path, as demonstrated by measuring the decline of the neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate. Significantly lower ratio of NAA/Cr of both short and long TEs and higher long TE Cho/Cr and Cho/NAA ratios in the peritumoral area of high grade gliomas when compared to low grade...

Benjamin A. Cohen, Edmond A. Knopp, Henry Rusinek, James S. Babb, David Zagzag, and Oded Gonen. Assessing Global Invasion of Newly Diagnosed Glial Tumors with Whole-Brain Proton MR Spectroscopy. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol October 2005;26:2170–2177. Dowling C, Bollen AW, Noworolski SM, et al. Preoperative proton MR spectroscopic imaging of brain tumors: correlation with histopathologic analysis of resection specimens. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2001;22:604–612. Riyadh N. Al-Okaili, MD, Jaroslaw Krejza, MD, PhD, Sumei Wang, MD, John H Woo, MD and Elisa R. Melhem, MD, PhD. Advanced...