Monitoring of Tumor Response After Chemo- and Radiotherapy by In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Abstract

At present, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is the only method that allows the detection of metabolites in vivo, noninvasively, and at real time in the intact tissue. Further development of MRS may well increase the specificity of the method and lead to improved insight into the cell metabolism. Experimental studies — in vitro and in vivo — demonstrated that MRS is capable of detecting different stages of tumor growth, monitoring therapy response, and observing the tissue metabolism. Accordingly, extensive studies of muscle, liver, kidney, brain tissue and of tumors in human subjects were carried out (for a review, see [1]). Tumor characterization by means of in vivo MRS is controversial [2, 6]; however, it seems that 1H and 31P MRS are not able to differentiate between various tumor types. One feasible clinical application of MRS is tumor therapy control [4, 9, 11–14].