Table 1:

Ratios of the main metabolites detected in the cerebral edema of 13 patients*

	NAA/Cr	NAA/Cho	Cho/Cr	mIns/Cr	Glx/Cr
Glioblastomas (pt no.)
1	1.7	1.6	1.1	0.8	1.8
2	0.9^†	0.9^†	1	0.6	1.6
3	2	2.2	0.9	0.7	2.2^†
4	1^†	1^†	1	0.6	2.1^†
5	1.2^†	1.4^†	0.9	0.7	2.6^†
6	1.5	1.7	0.9	0.5	2
7	1.5	1.9	0.8	0.5	2.8^†
Metastases (pt no.)
8	1.8	1.7	1	0.4	2.8^†
9	1.9	2.3	0.8	0.4	3^†
10	1.6	1.4^†	1.1	0.4	2.7^†
Meningiomas (pt no.)
11	1.8	1.9	0.9	0.4	3.2^†
12	1.9	1.8	1	0.7	3.7^†
13	1.4^†	1.8	0.8	0.4	2.5^†

Note:—NAA indicates N-acetylaspartate; Cr, creatine and phosphocreatine; Cho, choline- containing compounds; Glx, glutamate plus glutamine; mIns, myo-inositol.
* Ratios of the main metabolites are detected by PRESS sequences (TR, 2000 ms; TE, 35 ms) in edema surrounding 7 glioblastomas, 3 metastases, and 3 meningiomas. These values were compared with those obtained in the white matter of the left frontal region with use of the same technique in 16 healthy volunteers between 25 and 67 years old (mean age, 40.7 ± 9 years). The normal values are NAA/Cr 1.8 ± 0.3; NAA/Cho 2 ± 0.4; Cho/Cr 0.9 ± 0.2; mIns/Cr 0.6 ± 0.2 and Glx/Cr 1.8 ± 0.2.
† Altered values.