title: T1 rho dispersion imaging of head and neck tumors: a comparison to spin lock and magnetization transfer techniques.
abstract: The potential of T1 rho dispersion, spin lock (SL), and magnetization transfer (MT) techniques to differentiate benign and malignant head and neck tumors was evaluated. Twenty-four patients with pathologically verified head and neck tumors were studied with a .1-T MR imager. T1 rho dispersion effect was defined as 1 -(intensity with lower locking field amplitude/intensity with higher locking field amplitude). T1 rho dispersion effects were higher for malignant than benign tumors (P = .001). With T1 rho dispersion effect .14 as the threshold, sensitivity for detecting a malignant tumor was 91%, specificity was 77%, and accuracy was 83%. A strong correlation between T1 rho dispersion effects and SL effects and between T1 rho dispersion effects and MT effects in the head and neck tumors was found (r = .87, P < .001 and r = .90, P < .001, respectively). High T1 rho dispersion effects are not specific indicators of malignancy, because chronic infections, some benign tumors, and malignancies may overlap. Low T1 rho dispersion effect values are characteristic of a benign tumor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hesinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Markkola
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Aronen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paavonen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hopsu
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sipilä
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Tanttu
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Sepponen
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric