Purpose: To examine whether choline measurement by proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in patients with malignant tumors is clinically meaningful in addition to routine MR imaging.
Materials and methods: MR spectroscopy and MR imaging were performed in 27 consecutive patients with suspected malignant disease. Malignancy was assessed based on total choline compound levels using proton MR spectroscopy, and the results were compared with MR imaging findings.
Results: The sensitivity of MR imaging (84%, 21/25) was not significantly different from that of MR spectroscopy (88%, 22/25) among the 25 actual malignant diseases. Both MR imaging and MR spectroscopy produced two false-negative results. In one case, MR spectroscopy produced a false-negative result, whereas MR imaging produced a true-positive result. In two cases of benign breast disease, MR imaging produced false-positive results. MR spectroscopy produced one true-negative result and one false-positive result.
Conclusion: Although choline measurement by MR spectroscopy is a useful tool in the evaluation of malignant disease, it should be reserved for patients with suspected malignant disease that cannot be detected by MR imaging, such as those with non-palpable prostate tumor with elevated sPSA levels.