Determination of Cut-Off Value of Total Choline Concentration (TCho) for the Differentiation of Malignant, Benign and Normal Breast Tissues by In-Vivo Proton MR Spectroscopy at 1.5 T in a Large Cohort of Women.

Rani G. Sah¹, Uma Sharma¹, Rajinder Parshad², Naranamangalam R. Jagannathan¹

The concentration of choline containing compounds (tCho) was calculated using in-vivo proton MRS in 155 women. tCho was observed in 96/101 malignant, 22/25 benign lesions and 16/29 normal volunteers. The mean concentration of tCho for malignant tissues (4.0 2.9 mmol/kg) was significantly higher compared to benign (1.45 0.92 mmol/kg) and normal breast tissues (0.57 0.37 mmol/kg). Using ROC analysis, cut-off values of 2.24 mmol/kg and 1.02 mmol/kg were obtained for the differentiation of malignant from benign tissues and malignant versus normal tissues, respectively, suggesting that quantitative measurements provide unambiguous diagnosis of breast lesions.