ABSTRACT
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a number of important advantages in neuro-diagnostics. The advantages of MR-based diagnostics have become particularly clear for neuro-oncology. Much attention has been paid in leading investigative clinical journals to in vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) as a potentially key non-invasive modality for cancer diagnostics. The peri-tumoral region often appears unchanged on MRI, but represents an “uncertain” zone where tumor may be present in patients with cerebral glioma. Gadolinium contrast is used in MRI work-ups of suspected brain tumors, with the majority of brain tumors showing contrast enhancement. The combination of anatomic plus molecular imaging via MRI, MRS and MRSI is particularly promising for primary diagnosis of brain tumors. Distinguishing meningiomas, which are usually slow growing from more aggressive brain tumors, is most often achieved by MRI and computerized tomography.
