ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the liver in vivo is in experimental phase. MRS observation on liver cancer after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) has seldom been reported. This study was to investigate the value of MRS in assessing the metabolic changes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after TACE. METHODS: Twenty-five consecutive patients with pathologically-confirmed HCC received 1H MRS of all hepatic lesions using 1.5T whole body MR scanner before TACE and at 3-10 days after TACE. Choline-to-lipid (Cho/Lip), glucogen/glucose-to-lipid (Glu/Lip), and glytamine/glutamate-to-lipid (Glx/Lip) ratios were measured and analyzed statistically. RESULTS: The Cho/Lip, Glu/Lip, and Glx/Lip ratios were 0.21 +/- 0.08, 0.11 +/- 0.05, 0.28 +/- 0.10 before TACE, respectively, and were 0.10 +/- 0.08, 0.07 +/- 0.07, 0.18 +/- 0.12 after TACE, respectively, with significant differences (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Using MRS can evaluate the early metabolic responses of HCC to TACE.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/therapy , Chemoembolization, Therapeutic , Liver Neoplasms/therapy , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy/methods , Adult , Aged , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism , Choline/metabolism , Female , Glucose/metabolism , Glutamic Acid/metabolism , Glutamine/metabolism , Glycogen/metabolism , Humans , Lipids/analysis , Liver Neoplasms/metabolism , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the techniques of RTIP-fMRI scanning and the correspondence between structure and functional changes of motor cortex during self-paced finger movements by RTIP-fMRI in normal volunteers. METHODS: The 15 healthy volunteers were studied by RTIP-fMRI, and the activation tasks consisted of self-paced finger movements performed with the right and the left hands. Image postprocessing was done on the workstation by "correlation coefficient" algorithm analysis method, IAC and SPM software. RESULTS: There was a good correspondence between the anatomical landmarks of the somatotopical organization of primary motor areas in the 15 volunteers; during the finger tasks, the functional changes occurred in the contralateral primary motor-somatosensory cortex (M1/S1), the supplementary motor area (SMA), and the ipsilateral primary motor cortex. CONCLUSION: RTIP, a promising new technique, can localize the motor cortex accurately. It is superior to any other fMRI techniques, and may be used widely in the function research of the brain.
