title: Short TE quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
abstract: Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Clinical diagnosis is difficult in the early stages as the disease often presents with non-specific psychiatric and neurological symptoms. To investigate the diagnostic potential of quantitative short TE in vivo MRS, and the nature and anatomical distribution of biochemical abnormalities in vCJD, localised single-voxel spectra (TE/TR 30 ms/2,000 ms) were acquired from three brain regions: thalami, caudate nuclei and frontal white matter. Metabolite concentrations and ratios from three patients with definite or probable vCJD were compared with eight normal age-matched controls. Abnormal signal on T2-weighted MRI was apparent in the pulvinar region in all vCJD patients; this region also showed greatly increased myo-inositol [MI] (mean 2.5-fold, P=0.01) and decreased N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA; mean 2-fold, P=0.01). Two patients also showed increased [MI] (z=17, 11; one with decreased NAA, z=-12) in normal-appearing caudate nuclei. The magnitude of metabolite abnormalities in the thalami in moderately advanced vCJD suggests a potential role in earlier diagnosis. Short TE protocols allow the measurement of MI, which adds discriminant power to the MRS examination.
authors.affiliation: Dementia Research Group, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Cordery
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacManus
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Godbolt
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Rossor
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Waldman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007294:Inositol / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010725:Phosphocreatine / Q000378:metabolism; D011522:Protons; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D010725:Phosphocreatine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D007294:Inositol; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline