IN-VITRO NMR-SPECTROSCOPY OF HEALTHY - MA STOPATHICALLY MODIFIED AND CARCINOMATOUS BREAST-TISSUE SAMPLES CORRELATED WITH HISTOLOGICAL-FINDINGS

Of 57 patients with clinically suspected mamma carcinoma 121 samples w ere analysed by in vitro H-1-NMR spectroscopy at 300 MHz and correlate d with histological data. Within the relevant spectral region between 2.7 and 4.1 ppm strong signals were observed from fat, (phosphoryl-) c holine (phospho-) creatine, and carnitine. Furthermore, with high regu larity, 8 weak, partly overlapping signals were resolved and attribute d to glucose, glycine, threonine, serine, inositol, and sucrose. Their intensities were determined by an iterative fitness program. From the intensity ratios, different kinds of tissue could be distinguished ba sed on spectroscopic criteria. Healthy or mastopathically modified tis sue could be discriminated from more than 50% carcinomally affected ti ssue with a specificity of better than 99.5 %. This fact is explained by the lower content of fatty acids in the malignant tissue. Differenc es between spectra of healthy of mastopathically affected tissue were only small.