MR spectroscopy of the breast

Abstract

Breast cancer results from perturbations in normal cellular biochemistry that lead to alterations in the flux of intermediary metabolites and in the function of cell membranes. Alterations in cellular biochemistry can be measured and monitored noninvasively by MR spectroscopy, and the data so derived are complementary to MR imaging and portray interactions of biomolecules in metabolic pathways and membranes. The biochemical information obtained from MR spectra can be used to characterize and distinguish disease and nondisease states for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This information may be used to expand our knowledge of tumor biology and to determine the extent of disease and prognosis. MR spectroscopy, which was once the sole province of the physical chemist, is now an instrument of the physician.