Assessment of Uterine Cervical Cancer by Means of MR Spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract Background Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been shown to have clinical value in managing cancers of the brain, breast, cervix and prostate, it is useful for diagnosing and monitoring treatment of cervical cancer by analyzing the metabolite composition of cervical tumors, providing details of tumors metabolism that might assist tumor grading and leading to a better understanding of the biochemical pathways found within the lesion, serving as a noninvasive biomarker of metabolism in tumors. 1H-MRS has achieved great strides as a molecular imaging technique since its introduction, and its scope in many clinical scenarios and research settings is rising. Objective In this study, MRS was performed in all cases using single voxel spectroscopy (SVS) and patient spectra were interpreted qualitatively by inspection of the peaks of lipid and choline. Aim and Patients and Methods This study was carried out during the period between December 2017 and September 2018. Twenty three patients with cancer cervix diagnosed clinically and/or pathologically proved cancer were recruited from (Oncological department) in Ain Shams University Hospitals. Results Our study revealed high lipid level in 65% of cervical cancer patients which has 100% sensitivity and 74% specificity in detecting cervical cancer, choline level which considered most consistent difference between majority of normal tissue and tumors shows high level in measured 69.2% of the patients. Conclusion Abnormal metabolism is a key tumor hallmark. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) allows measurement of metabolite concentration that can be utilized to characterize tumor metabolic changes. 1H-MRS measurements of specific metabolites have been implemented in the clinic. This study interpret ate the role of 1H-MRS for cancer evaluation, evaluates its strengths and limitations, and correlates metabolite peaks at 1H-MRS with diagnostic and prognostic parameters of cervical cancer.