Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of lung cancer in vivo

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) has demonstrated that in vitro, lung cancer has higher lactate and choline signals than those of normal tissues. The detection of these metabolites in lung cancer in vivo by (1)H-MRS would be useful for clinical diagnoses of lung cancer. We report the in vivo detection of lactate and choline in lung cancer by (1)H-MRS in a 41-year-old Asian man who was diagnosed with pT4N0M0 ⅢA stage, right upper lobe lung adenocarcinoma. A lactate-lipid peak was observed near 1.33 ppm in the spectrum of lung cancer in vivo at TE = 30 ms, and it was inverted at TE = 135 ms, indicating that a lactate signal is contained in the lactate-lipid peak. A choline peak was also observed near 3.2 ppm in the spectrum with fat suppression at TE = 135 ms. An accumulation of similar cases will help determine the appropriate applications of (1)H-MRS for lung cancer.