title: Usefulness of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy in human testes: preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify and quantify the metabolites detected on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) in human testes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The institutional review board approved the study, and all patients provided informed consent. A total of 27 patients consulting the Urology Department underwent single-voxel (1)H-MRS (4000 ms repetition time [RT], 31 ms echo time [TE], 128 averages for each TE) at 1.5 T. Spectroscopy was not evaluable in one patient, and four patients had only one testis; thus, 48 testes were studied. Choline-containing compounds (Cho) and methylene lipid (Lip) values were measured and the Cho/Lip ratio was calculated. Testes were classified as normal or abnormal based on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used for correlated data and bootstrapping to compare mean Cho/Lip ratios between normal and abnormal testes, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty testes were classified as normal and 18 as abnormal. The mean Cho/Lip ratio was 1.02±0.46 in normal testes and 0.45±0.36 in abnormal testes (Mann-Whitney U, p=0.001; bootstrapping mean difference, 0.57; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32-0.82; AUC=0.833).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  (1)H-MRS could be useful in routine clinical practice to identify the major metabolites in the testes and help discriminate between normal and abnormal testes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña), Spain. Electronic address: baleatorum@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baleato-González
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña), Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Figueiras
authors.affiliation: Dirección Xeral de Innovación e Xestión da Saúde Pública, Consellería de Sanidade, SERGAS, San Lazaro s/n, 15703 Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña), Spain.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Santiago-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña), Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Requejo-Isidro
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona, Institut de Diagnostic per la Imatge, Universitat de Girona, Lorenzana n 36, 17002 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Vilanova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D002794:Choline