Sanjeev Chawla1, Sumei Wang1,
Sulaiman Sheriff2, Lisa Desiderio1, Alexander Lin3,
Harry Quon3, Ramesh Rengan3, Elias R. Melhem1,
Andrew Maudsley2, Harish Poptani1
1Radiology, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA, United States; 2Radiology, University of Miami,
Miami, FL, United States; 3Radiation Oncology, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Echoplanar
spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) was performed serially in patients with brain
metastasis undergoing whole brain radiation therapy to assess metabolic
alterations in the normal brain. NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios were measured from
dorsolateral-prefrontal-cortex, cingulate-gyrus, thalamus, hippocampus and
basal ganglia. In general, a decrease
in NAA/Cr was noted from several regions while the Cho/Cr ratio decreased in
some regions with a concomitant increase in other regions probably due to
neurodegenerative effects of whole brain radiation. These results suggest
that EPSI may be used for detecting radiation toxicity to the normal brain in
patients with brain metastases treated with radiation therapy.