title: Nuclear magnetic resonance in oncology.
abstract: The application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to the diagnosis of cancer was first explored by Damadian, who proposed that benign and malignant tissues could be differentiated on the basis of characteristic differences in spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times (T1 and T2) as determined in vitro with NMR spectrometers. Damadian's thesis was very controversial and never gained widespread acceptance. Not all investigators were able to confirm his findings. Moreover, it was improbable that NMR would ever play an important role in the diagnosis of malignancy as long as biopsy was necessary to obtain material for analysis. However, the potential usefulness of NMR in oncology was enhanced considerably by the work of Lauterbur, who showed that NMR signals could be spatially encoded to produce images of the examined object. NMR imaging has made feasible the measurement of the T1 and T2 of lesions without biopsy. Unfortunately, initial efforts at characterizing tissues by in vivo determination of proton relaxation times have yielded disappointing results. Nonetheless, NMR imaging will be a powerful tool for evaluating patients with malignant disease because of the unique anatomic information it can provide without exposure of the patient to ionizing radiation. In vivo NMR spectroscopy of 31P and other sensitive nuclei may add a new dimension to clinical and experimental oncology.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005266:Femoral Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008080:Liposarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D051381:Rats; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary; D013848:Thigh