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Abstract #2210

Prominent Citrate Predicts Malignant Progression of Low-Grade Astrocytomas in Children

Arabhi C. Nagasunder1, Mikhail Laskov2, Albert Joseph2, Ashok Panigrahy1,3, Girish Dhall2, Jonathan L. Finlay2, Ignacio Gonzalez-Gomez4, Mark D. Krieger5, Marvin D. Nelson1, Stefan Bluml1,6

1Department of Radiology, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 2Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 3Department of Radiology, Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 4Department of Neuropathology, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 5Department of Neurosurgery, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 6Rudi Schulte Research Institue, Santa Barbara, CA, United States


Pediatric low-grade gliomas can either progress to a high-grade lesion or remain dormant for long periods of time. Currently, there is a need to identify markers that would allow pediatric neuro-oncologists to predict tumor progression. Our goal was to determine whether aggressive pediatric low-grade II astrocytoma have metabolic features that distinguishes them from stable grade II astrocytoma using in vivo MR Spectroscopy. We found that elevated citrate and low NAA may predict malignant progression of low-grade astrocytomas.

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