Clinical Potential of Absolute Concentration of Total Choline in Breast Cancer Patients Using In-Vivo Proton MR Spectroscopy: Assessment of Early Therapeutic Response Following Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy.

Rani Gupta Sah¹, Uma Sharma¹, Rajinder Parshad², Naranamangalam R. Jagannathan¹

The clinical potential of sequential monitoring of total choline (tCho) concentration using in-vivo proton MRS in the assessment of the therapeutic response of locally advanced breast cancer patients (n=17) undergoing neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) was evaluated. In 11 responders, tCho concentration before therapy was 4.8 2.4 mmol/kg, which reduced to 2.61.6 (p<0.05) after I NACT and further to 1.70.9 and 0.40.1 after 2nd and 3rd cycle. In 6 non-responders, tCho concentration before therapy was 2.1 0.9 mmol/kg and remained same after III NACT (2.1 2.6 mmol/kg). Our MR data showed promise for early detection of tumor response to therapy.