Deuterium MR spectroscopy: potential applications in oncology research.
Almir Galvao Vieira BitencourtArka BhowmikEduardo Flavio De Lacerda Marcal FilhoRoberto Lo GulloYousef MazaheriPanagiotis KapetasSarah Eskreis-WinklerRobert YoungPinker KatjaSunitha B ThakurPublished in: BJR open (2024)
Metabolic imaging in clinical practice has long relied on PET with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a radioactive tracer. However, this conventional method presents inherent limitations such as exposure to ionizing radiation and potential diagnostic uncertainties, particularly in organs with heightened glucose uptake like the brain. This review underscores the transformative potential of traditional deuterium MR spectroscopy (MRS) when integrated with gradient techniques, culminating in an advanced metabolic imaging modality known as deuterium MRI (DMRI). While recent advancements in hyperpolarized MRS hold promise for metabolic analysis, their widespread clinical usage is hindered by cost constraints and the availability of hyperpolarizer devices or facilities. DMRI, also denoted as deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI), represents a pioneering, single-shot, and noninvasive paradigm that fuses conventional MRS with nonradioactive deuterium-labelled substrates. Extensively tested in animal models and patient cohorts, particularly in cases of brain tumours, DMI's standout feature lies in its seamless integration into standard clinical MRI scanners, necessitating only minor adjustments such as radiofrequency coil tuning to the deuterium frequency. DMRI emerges as a versatile tool for quantifying crucial metabolites in clinical oncology, including glucose, lactate, glutamate, glutamine, and characterizing IDH mutations. Its potential applications in this domain are broad, spanning diagnostic profiling, treatment response monitoring, and the identification of novel therapeutic targets across diverse cancer subtypes.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- positron emission tomography
- contrast enhanced
- computed tomography
- pet ct
- magnetic resonance imaging
- pet imaging
- clinical practice
- white matter
- resting state
- ms ms
- single molecule
- big data
- type diabetes
- multidrug resistant
- blood pressure
- blood glucose
- case report
- functional connectivity
- single cell
- skeletal muscle
- risk assessment
- low grade
- fluorescence imaging
- mass spectrometry
- diffusion weighted imaging
- artificial intelligence
- brain injury
- cerebral ischemia
- weight loss