The use of short-echo-time 1H MRS for childhood cerebellar tumours prior to histopathological diagnosis.

Background: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) measures concentrations of metabolites in vivo and provides a powerful method for identifying tumours. MRS has not entered routine clinical use partly due to the difficulty of analysing the spectra.

Objective: To create a straightforward method for interpreting short-echo-time MRS of childhood cerebellar tumours.

Materials And Methods: Single-voxel MRS (1.5-T Siemens Symphony NUM4, TR/TE 1,500/30 ms) was performed at presentation in 30 children with cerebellar tumours. The MRS results were analysed for comparison with histological diagnosis. Peak heights for N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho) and myo-inositol (mIns) were determined and receiver operator characteristic curves used to select ratios that best discriminated between the tumour types. The method was implemented by a group of clinicians and scientists, blinded to the results.

Results: A total of 27 MRS studies met the quality control criteria. NAA/Cr >4.0 distinguished all but one of the astrocytomas from the other tumours. A combination of Cr/Cho <0.75 and mIns/NAA <2.1 separated all the medulloblastomas from the ependymomas.

Conclusion: Peak height ratios from short-echo-time MRS can accurately predict the histopathology of childhood cerebellar tumours.