Inverse correlation between choline magnetic resonance spectroscopy signalintensity and the apparent diffusion coefficient in human glioma

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (M RI) characteristics of human intracranial glioma were studied. Present know ledge suggests a hypothetical inverse relationship between the characterist ic choline signal intensity elevation and the apparent diffusion coefficien t (ADC) in glioma. Twenty cases of glioma were examined with diffusion-weig hted echoplanar imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (H-1-MRSI). A statistically significant inverse correlation between the ch oline signal intensity and the ADC was found (P = 0.0004) in radiologically defined tumor-containing regions. This study is the first in which diffusi on MRI and H-1-MRSI were used to evaluate human intracranial glioma jointly . It provides insight into how to interpret choline signal intensity elevat ion in terms of tumor cellularity and proliferative potential when ADC imag es are also available. Magn Reson Med 41:2-7, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, In c.