In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy



In vivo (that is 'in the living organism') magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a specialised technique associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).[1][2]

Uses

MRS allows doctors to obtain biochemical information about the tissues of the human body in a non-invasive way (without the need for a biopsy), whereas MRI only gives them information about the structure of the body (the distribution of water and fat).

For example, whereas MRI can tell doctors where a tumour (cancer) is located within a patient's body, MRS can, in theory, tell them how aggressive (malignant) the tumour is.

MRS equipment can be tuned (just like a fluorine.

The types of biochemicals (lactatelactate which are elevated in some tumors.

At present MRS is mainly used as a tool by scientists (e.g. biochemists) for medical research projects, but it is becoming clear that it also has the ability to give doctors useful clinical information which can have a real benefit for patient's lives.

MRS is currently used to investigate a number of diseases in the human body, most notably cancer (in brain, breast and prostate), epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's Chorea.

Example

Shown below is an MRI brain scan (in the axial plane, that is slicing from front-to-back and side-to-side through the head) showing a brain tumour (meningioma) at the bottom right. The red box shows the volume of interest from which chemical information was obtained by MRS (a cube with 2 cm sides which produces a square when intersecting the 5 mm thick slice of the MRI scan).

The hertz) and the vertical axis is signal strength (in arbitrary units).

Each biochemical, or metabolite, has a different peak in the spectrum which appears at a known frequency. The peaks corresponding to the chemical creatine (3.0 p.p.m.).




Both of the above images are kindly provided by The University of Hull Centre for Magnetic Resonance Investigations (http://www.hull.ac.uk/mri).

See also

References

  1. ^ (1992) In-vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-55029-1. 
  2. ^ Jansen JF, Backes WH, Nicolay K, Kooi ME (2006). "1H MR spectroscopy of the brain: absolute quantification of metabolites". Radiology 240 (2): 318–32. doi:10.1148/radiol.2402050314. PMID 16864664.
 
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