A POTENTIAL DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION OF MAGNETIZATION-TRANSFER CONTRAST- AN IN-VITRO NMR-STUDY OF EXCISED HUMAN THYROID TISSUES

A series of freshly excised thyroid tissues was analysed using a nucle ar magnetic resonance spectrometer and then subjected to routine histo -pathology examination. Whilst simple T-1 values for normal tissue and goitre are not significantly different, the degree of intra-subject T -1 and T-1s variability is shown to be an indicator of benign thyroid disease. Using data collected from an inversion-recovery sequence perf ormed with and without magnetization transfer, a magnetization transfe r rate constant was calculated for each tissue sample. These data sugg est that this parameter may provide in viva discrimination between fol licular cancer and follicular adenoma.