QUANTITATIVE MRS OF THE HUMAN BREAST AT 3T

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 中心，不一定是研究者的机构。 非常需要用于评估乳腺癌的改进的非侵入性工具。一种被称为磁共振波谱（MRS）的技术，通常与MRI检查沿着进行，可以产生有关乳房中不同病变内特定代谢物数量的信息。已知由含胆碱化合物（tCho）产生的信号量在恶性肿瘤中高于良性和正常组织。许多小组先前的工作已经证明，测量tCho可以提供临床有用的信息。在临床1.5 T MR扫描仪上，简单地检测到tCho信号表明可疑病变是恶性的。也已经表明，tCho信号响应于成功的化疗治疗而降低，这表明它可以用作响应的早期指标。然而，如果乳腺MRS是一个临床上可用的工具，它将是必要的，以产生定量的，可靠的测量tCho，而不是定性的判断detectability.The项目的目标是开发和证明一个可靠的方法，使定量tCho测量乳腺病变的临床3 T MR扫描仪。具体目标是：1）优化脉冲序列和采集方法，2）评价再现性并识别误差来源，3）证明在小型患者研究中监测治疗反应的可行性。该转化研究项目将为临床MR系统带来先进的研究方法，并为评估临床疗效所需的大规模多中心试验提供基础。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. There is a great need for improved non-invasive tools for evaluating breast cancer. A technique called magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), generally performed along with a MRI examination, can produce information about the quantities of specific metabolites within a distinct lesion in a breast. The amount of signal produced by choline-containing compounds (tCho) is known to be higher in malignant tumors than in benign and normal tissues. Previous work by a number of groups has demonstrated that measuring tCho can provide clinically useful information. On clinical 1.5 T MR scanners, simply detecting a tCho signal indicates that a suspect lesion is malignant. It has also been shown that the tCho signal decreases in response to successful chemotherapy treatment, suggesting that it can be used as an early indicator of response. However, if breast MRS is to be made into a clinically usable tool, it will be necessary to produce quantitative, reliable measurements of tCho, rather than qualitative judgments of detectability.The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate a reliable methodology for making quantitative tCho measurements in breast lesions on clinical 3T MR scanners. The specific aims are to 1) optimize pulse sequences and aquisition methods, 2) evaluate reproducibility and identify sources of error, and 3) demonstrate feasibility of monitoring response to treatment in a small patient study. This translational research project will bring advanced research methods to a clinical MR system, and provide the foundation for large-scale, multi-center trials that are required to evaluate clinical efficacy.