PROTON MAGNETIC-RESONANCE AND HUMAN CERVICAL NEOPLASIA .2. EX-VIVO CHEMICAL-SHIFT MICROIMAGING

Proton chemical-shift imaging at 8.5 T has been used to detect maligna nt foci in small (6 mm(3)) biopsies from the human uterine cervix. Ima ges based on the lipid resonances of frankly malignant cells discrimin ate between tumor tissue and host stroma and distinguish invasive from preinvasive cervical cancer (n = 7). With this method, foci of malign ant cells were revealed in 500 mu m slices with an in-plane resolution of 40 by 160 mu m. The MR intensity maps reflected the local distribu tion of malignant cells as assessed by histopathology. The lower signa l-to-noise ratio inherent for these non-water-based images was improve d by applying postacquisitional matched Gaussian window functions, thu s effecting a substantial increase in contrast with minimal loss in sp atial resolution. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.