The value of MR spectroscopy in tumour imaging
Andrew C Peet 1*, Theodoros N Arvanitis 1, Dorothee P Auer 2, Nigel P Davies 3, Darren Hargrave 4, Franklyn A Howe 5, Tim Jaspan 2, Martin O Leach 6, Donald Macarthur 2, Lesley MacPherson 7, Paul S Morgan 2, Kal Natarajan 8, Geoffrey S Payne 9, Dawn Saunders 10 and Richard G Grundy 2
1 University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
2 Nottingham University Hospitals, United Kingdom
3 University Hospital Birmingham, United Kingdom
4 Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
5 St George's, University of London, United Kingdom
6 Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, United Kingdom
7 Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
8 Univesity Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
9 Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
10 Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, United Kingdom
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: acpeet{at}doctors.org.uk.
Accepted 23 April 2008
 | Abstract |
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Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging plays a key role in the management of many childhood tumours. There is increasing interest in extending these investigations to MR techniques that give information on tumour biology in vivo.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one such method which provides information on tissue biochemistry. Promising results have been obtained from many preclinical and clinical studies leading to an expectation that MRS will play a valuable clinical role. However, the role of MRS is not yet well defined and there is a paucity of data from multi-centre clinical trials.
In this review we concentrate on MRS in paediatric oncology, providing some general guidance on current applications and outlining areas which need to be developed further.
