Potential of Relaxation-Weighted 23Na-MRI for Brain Tumor Characterization

Armin Michael Nagel¹, Michael Bock¹, Christian Hartmann², Lars Gerigk¹, Jan-Oliver Neumann², Marc-Andr Weber², Martin Bendszus², Alexander Radbruch², Wolfgang Wick², Heinz-Peter Schlemmer¹, Wolfhard Semmler¹, Armin Biller²

In this work 16 patients suffering from different brain tumors (14 WHO grade I IV and 2 metastases) were examined, to evaluate if relaxation-weighted ²³Na-MRI can provide information for tumor grading. All glioblastomas (WHO grade IV) showed higher signal intensities in relaxation-weighted imaging than the WHO grad I - III tumors. Regression analysis yielded a positive correlation between the relaxation-weighted ²³Na-MRI signal and the MIB-1 proliferation rate, a histological tumor marker. No correlation was found for the total ²³Na-signal.