CLASSIFICATION OF H-1 MR SPECTRA OF BIOPSIES FROM UNTREATED AND RECURRENT OVARIAN-CANCER USING LINEAR DISCRIMINANT-ANALYSIS

Proton (H-1) magnetic resonance (MR) spectra of ex vivo biopsy samples of ovarian cancers provided biochemical information that was used to discriminate cancer from normal ovarian tissue. Possible differences p resent in intrinsically resistant tumors or changes in biochemistry af ter the induction of resistance were identified. Using multivariate te chniques, in particular linear discriminant analysis (LDA), ovarian ca ncer was distinguished from normal ovarian tissue with a sensitivity o f 100%, a specificity of 95% and an accuracy of 98%. Moreover, LDA was able to distinguish untreated ovarian cancer from recurrent ovarian c ancer with a sensitivity of 92%, a specificity of 100%, and an accurac y of 97%; removal of the single ''fuzzy'' specimen increased the accur acy to 100%. Applications of this knowledge to in vivo measurements co uld lead to noninvasive diagnosis of ovarian cancer.