Studies of brain metabolism in patients with non-small cell lung cancer using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most common form of primary malignant neoplasm. Despite recent advances in the treatment the prognosis for patients with lung cancer remains poor. Not much is known about alterations of brain metabolism in patients with NSCLC. The aim of this work was to study brain biochemical status of patients with NSCLC using proton NMR in vivo spectroscopy and to examine the possibility of early detection of metastatic brain tumors.
The studied group consisted of 40 patients (2 women and 38 men) with diagnosed NSCLC, aged from 46 to 76 with the average of 61 and the median of 63.
The spectra were acquired from the volumes of interest of 1.5x1.5x1.5cm3 localized in frontal and occipital lobes white matter. The whole-body MRI/MRS system (Elscint 2T Prestige) operating at a field strength of 2T and a proton resonance frequency of 81.3 MHz was used (PRESS, TR=1500 ms, TE=35 ms, 50 Acq).
Relative intensities of the signals due to N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline containing compounds (Cho), creatine compounds (tCr), myoInositol (mI), alanine (Ala), taurine (Tau), glucose (Glc) as well as the band consisted of lactate and lipids (LacLip) were obtained by a numerical integration of the fitted lines.
The metabolic patterns obtained for the studied patients are extremely disturbed. The NAA level is markedly reduced whereas the Glc/tCr, Ala/tCr, Tau/tCr and LacLip/tCr ratios are increased. The disturbances in the lipid metabolism are distinct and some more precise studies of lipid metabolism seem to be required.