NMR in biomedicine
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Optimized myo-inositol (mI) detection is important for diagnosing and monitoring a multitude of pathological conditions of the brain. Simulations are presented in this work, performed to decide which pulse sequence has the most significant advantage in terms of improving repeatability and accuracy of mI measurements at 3T over the pulse sequence used typically in the clinic, a TE = 35 ms PRESS sequence. ⋯ While limiting the SNR of an acquisition to the equivalent SNR of a spectrum acquired in 5 min from an 8 cc voxel, it was found through simulations that the most repeatable mI measurements would be obtained with a Carr-Purcell sequence. This sequence was implemented in a clinical scanner, and improved mI measurements were demonstrated in vivo.
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Distinguishing between low-grade oligodendrogliomas (ODs) and astrocytomas (AC) is of interest for defining prognosis and stratifying patients to specific treatment regimens. The purpose of this study was to determine if the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion imaging can help to differentiate between newly diagnosed grade II OD and AC subtypes and to evaluate the ADC and FA values for the mixed population of oligoastrocytomas (OA). Fifty-three patients with newly diagnosed grade II gliomas were studied using a 1.5T whole body scanner (23 ODs, 16 ACs, and 14 OAs). ⋯ Combining the two did not enhance the classification. The patients with OA had nADC and nFA values between those of OD and AC. This suggests that ADC and FA may be helpful in directing tissue sampling to the most appropriate regions for taking biopsies in order to make a definitive diagnosis.