MALIGNANT HEPATIC-TUMORS - P-31 MR SPECTROSCOPY WITH ONE-DIMENSIONAL CHEMICAL-SHIFT IMAGING

To determine the clinical feasibility and applicability of phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy and to assess its potential for characterization of human hepatic tissue, one-dimensional chemical shift imaging (CSI) was performed in 37 patients with various malignant hepatic neoplasms (30 metastases from a variety of primary tumors and seven hepatocellular carcinomas) and seven healthy volunteers. Tumors were grouped according to the percentage of the analyzed section that was occupied by tumor: less than 50% (group A) or more than 50% (group B). In group B, all phosphomonoester/beta-adenosine triphosphate ratios were significantly higher than normal (P < .001). Hepatocellular carcinomas and metastases from various primary neoplasms could not be differentiated on the basis of spectral characteristics and metabolite ratios. Limitations of one-dimensional surface coil CSI prevented separation of spectra of small tumors and tumors deep within the liver parenchyma from spectra of normal liver parenchyma.