Classification of Brain Tumors by Ex Vivo 1H NMR Spectroscopy

Abstract: Ex vivo biopsy samples (n = 42) from human brain tumors and normal brain have been examined by high‐resolution proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Parameters from one‐dimensional 1H spectra, two‐dimensional COSY spectra, and transverse relaxation time (T2) data were used to classify the tumors according to the histopathological diagnoses. The ratio of the area between 3.4 and 3.1 ppm to that between 1.5 and 1.1 ppm distinguished glioblastomas from astrocytomas and normal brain, and appeared to be indicative of malignant potential. In support of the one‐dimensional data, cross‐peaks in the COSY spectra of brain specimens classified glioblastomas and metastases into one group and the more benign tumors, meningiomas, astrocytomas, and normal brain into a second group. The transverse relaxation of the resonance at 1.3 ppm was fitted by a model with two T2 values. The longer T2 value could be used to distinguish glioblastomas from normal brain, the latter having a much longer long T2 value. Astrocytomas showed a continuum of T2 values between glioblastomas and normal brain, with the grade of the astrocytoma correlating roughly with the value of the long T2 component.

[1]  O. Jardetzky,et al.  Determination of metabolite and nucleotide concentrations in proliferating lymphocytes by 1H-NMR of acid extracts. , 1990, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[2]  J. Saunders,et al.  Magnetic resonance spectroscopy in cancer research. , 1990, Canadian Association of Radiologists journal = Journal l'Association canadienne des radiologistes.

[3]  W. Mackinnon,et al.  Uterine cervical punch biopsy specimens can be analyzed by 1h mrs , 1990, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[4]  C T Moonen,et al.  Short echo time proton MR spectroscopic imaging. , 1993, Journal of computer assisted tomography.

[5]  P R Luyten,et al.  Metabolic imaging of patients with intracranial tumors: H-1 MR spectroscopic imaging and PET. , 1990, Radiology.

[6]  P E Wright,et al.  Assignment of methylene proton resonances in NMR spectra of embryonic and transformed cells to plasma membrane triglyceride. , 1986, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[7]  P M Matthews,et al.  Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging for metabolic characterization of demyelinating plaques , 1992, Annals of neurology.

[8]  G. Sutherland,et al.  Mobile lipids and metabolic heterogeneity of brain tumours as detectable by Ex Vivo 1H MR spectroscopy , 1994, NMR in biomedicine.

[9]  David G. Gadian,et al.  Proton MR Spectroscopy of Intracranial Tumours: In Vivo and In Vitro Studies , 1990, Journal of computer assisted tomography.

[10]  J. Saunders,et al.  A simple procedure for obtaining high‐quality nmr spectra of semiquantitative value from small tissue specimens: cervical biopsies. , 1992, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[11]  G. Sutherland,et al.  High‐Resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy studies of extracts of human cerebral neoplasms , 1992, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[12]  C. Mountford,et al.  Identification of triglyceride in malignant cells , 1991 .

[13]  S J Nelson,et al.  Childhood adrenoleukodystrophy: assessment with proton MR spectroscopy. , 1993, Radiology.

[14]  W. Mackinnon,et al.  NMR methods for characterizing the state of the surfaces of complex mammalian cells. , 1984, Journal of biochemical and biophysical methods.

[15]  Ian C. P. Smith,et al.  1H MRS of high grade astrocytomas: Mobile lipid accumulation in necrotic tissue , 1994, NMR in biomedicine.

[16]  O. Jardetzky,et al.  Characterization of lipid composition in stimulated human lymphocytes by 1H-NMR. , 1990, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[17]  C. Wilson,et al.  LIPID COMPOSITION OF HUMAN GLIAL TUMOUR AND ADJACENT BRAIN * , 1967, Journal of neurochemistry.

[18]  E. Shoubridge,et al.  Proton and phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy of human astrocytomas in vivo. Preliminary observations on tumor grading , 1990, NMR in biomedicine.

[19]  I. Smith,et al.  NMR spectroscopy and cancer research: the present and the future. , 1990, Analytical chemistry.

[20]  S. Meiboom,et al.  Modified Spin‐Echo Method for Measuring Nuclear Relaxation Times , 1958 .

[21]  J. Frahm,et al.  Cerebral metabolism in man after acute stroke: New observations using localized proton NMR spectroscopy , 1989, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[22]  W. Mackinnon,et al.  High-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of metastatic cancer cells. , 1984, Science.

[23]  J. Alger,et al.  High‐field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of human cerebrum obtained during surgery for epilepsy , 1989, Neurology.

[24]  C. Mountford,et al.  The effect of altering time domains and window functions in two-dimensional proton COSY spectra of biological specimens , 1991 .

[25]  J Hennig,et al.  Human brain tumors: assessment with in vivo proton MR spectroscopy. , 1993, Radiology.

[26]  K. Brindle,et al.  The appearance of neutral lipid signals in the 1H NMR spectra of a myeloma cell line correlates with the induced formation of cytoplasmic lipid droplets , 1993, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  J A Frank,et al.  Metabolism of human gliomas: assessment with H-1 MR spectroscopy and F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET. , 1990, Radiology.

[28]  J. Frahm,et al.  Noninvasive differentiation of tumors with use of localized H-1 MR spectroscopy in vivo: initial experience in patients with cerebral tumors. , 1989, Radiology.