Quantification of Cervical Tumor Choline Concentration by Proton MR Spectroscopy at 3 Tesla: A Pilot Study

Yao Ding¹, Roderick McColl¹, Ralph Mason¹, Robert Sims¹, Jayanthi Lea¹, Paul Weatherall¹

In Vivo 1H-MRS is a non-invasive technique that provides information on tumor metabolism, which may be used in tumor diagnosis and tumor response to therapy. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that Cho can be detected in human cervical tumors using 1H-MRS at 1.5 T. However, in some of these studies, Cho signals were also detected in post-treatment residue tissues and in normal cervix tissues. Thus, a quantitative method is necessary for quantifying the accurate levels of Cho for differentiating between different pathologies. The current study applied an internal water reference method to investigate the absolute quantification of Cho levels in cervical tumor system. We hope 1H MRS can be used to improve diagnostic accuracy and monitor cervical cancer response to therapy.