Proton MR spectroscopy of pediatric cerebellar tumors.

PURPOSE To investigate the role of proton MR spectroscopy in pediatric cerebellar tumor diagnosis.

METHODS Single voxel pulse sequences with long echo time (135 or 270 milliseconds, voxel size 8 to 19 cm3), were used to obtain proton spectra of primary pediatric cerebellar tumors. Eleven primitive neuroectodermal tumors (patient age, 2 to 12 years; mean, 7 years), 11 low-grade astrocytomas (age, 2 to 16 years; mean, 9 years), 4 ependymomas (age, 1 to 6 years; mean, 4 years), 1 mixed glioma ependymo-astrocytoma (age, 11 years), 1 anaplastic ependymoma (age, 7 years), 1 ganglioglioma (age, 14 years), and 1 malignant teratoma (age, 6 days) were studied. Control cerebellum spectra were acquired from five patients without abnormality in cerebellum (age, 2 to 15 years; mean, 8 years). The signal intensities from choline-containing compounds (Cho), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr), N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), and lactate (Lac) were quantified. The mean and standard deviation of metabolite ratios were calculated.

RESULTS The control spectra ratios (NAA:Cho = 1.49 +/- 0.36, Cr:Cho = 1.13 +/- 0.23) were distinct from the tumor spectra (NAA:Cho = 0.41 +/- 0.27 and Cr:Cho = 0.37 +/- 0.23). Most of primitive neuroectodermal tumors had low NAA:Cho (0.17 +/- 0.09) and Cr:Cho (0.32 +/- 0.19). Compared with primitive neuroectodermal tumors, low-grade astrocytomas and ependymomas had higher NAA:Cho ratio (0.63 +/- 0.19 and 0.39 +/- 0.12). The Cr:Cho ratio was higher for ependymomas (0.60 +/- 0.20) than for astrocytomas (0.27 +/- 0.12) and primitive neuroectodermal tumors. No NAA was found in the malignant teratoma. Lac:Cho ratio was 0.66 +/- 0.40, 0.58 +/- 0.30, and 0.08 +/- 0.12 for astrocytoma, ependymoma, and primitive neuroectodermal tumor, respectively. Lactate was elevated in the mixed glioma ependymo-astrocytoma, ganglioglioma, and teratoma. The NAA and lactate signals were sometimes obscured by lipids in the spectra. Discriminant analysis was carried out using NAA:Cho and Cr:Cho ratios to differentiate the three major tumor types. The sensitivity/specificity values for diagnosing astrocytoma, ependymoma, and primitive neuroectodermal tumor were found to be 0.91/0.84, 0.75/0.92, and 0.82/0.89, respectively, based on this study.

CONCLUSION In many cases, proton MR spectroscopy can be used to help differentiate cerebellar primitive neuroectodermal tumor, low-grade astrocytoma, and ependymoma.