Amide proton transfer MR imaging in the characterization of brain tumors: A review paper

Abstract

Amide proton transfer (APT) magnetic resonance imaging (MR) is a new imaging technology that has shown promise in the non-invasive characterization of brain malignancies, particularly meningiomas and glioblastomas. Th works aims to evaluate the existing literature in Amide proton transfer (APT) magnetic resonance imaging (MR) to explore the efficacy of APT MR imaging in the characterization of meningiomas and glioblastomas tumors. The review gives an overview of APT MR imaging principles, examines its potential benefits and limits, and highlights the important findings from the selected research. To discover relevant research published up to the current day, a literature search was undertaken in electronic databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar. The search is based on keywords and medical terms related to APT MR imaging, meningiomas, and glioblastomas. The review gives an overview of APT MR imaging principles, examines its potential benefits and limits, and highlights the important findings from the selected research. It showed that the majority of studies found encouraging results in distinguishing meningiomas and glioblastomas from surrounding normal brain tissue using APT MR imaging. For tumor characterization, APT signal intensity assessments such as APT asymmetry analysis and APT ratio analysis were used. The work concluded that the Amide proton transfer MR imaging has the potential to be a non-invasive imaging method for the diagnosis of meningiomas and glioblastomas. It provides useful information about tumor metabolism and cellular composition, which can help with diagnosis, therapy planning, and prognosis.