A Review of the Detection of Amino Acids in Tumor Tissue with 1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in vivo

Abstract

The biochemical components of tumor tissue are generally different from normal tissue. A variety of techniques, including of magnetic resonance (MR) are used to study metabolic compounds and their associated biochemical pathways in tumor tissue in vivo. This review provides an overview of applications of MR spectroscopy (MRS) to the identification of biochemical characteristics, e.g. amino acids present during tumor growth. MRS is a technology that allows spatial localization and structural studies of amino acids and is gaining in use as a diagnostic tool. This review is intended to provide information about potential applications of MRS to non-invasive probing of the underlying amino acid biochemistry in tumors. Articles discussed in this review are classified into the following categories: hardware for 1 H MRS, acquisition methods, software, and 1 H MRS of amino acids in tumor tissue in vivo.