Victor D. Schepkin1, Cathy W. Levenson2, Silvia M. Figueiroa3, William W. Brey1, Peter L. Gor'kov1, Kiran K. Shetty1
1CIMAR, NHMFL/FSU, Tallahassee, FL, USA; 2College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA; 3College of Human Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Rodent glioma chemotherapy was investigated using for the first time MRI at 21T. Tumor responses were detected by high resolution sodium and proton diffusion MRI in non-treated and BCNU treated 9L tumors. Steady increase of tumor sodium content in non-treated tumor was detected with a rate of ~ 5%/day. Both sodium and diffusion MRI can identify therapeutic response in a few days but can predict outcome only in ~ two weeks after initiation of therapy. The study supports the unique role of sodium homeostasis in tumors and the importance of sodium and diffusion MRI in evaluating and predicting efficacy of therapy.