Nigel Paul Davies1, Maryam Kalantari
Saghafi2, Martin Wilson3, Yu Sun3, Theodoros
N. Arvanitis4, Andrew C. Peet3
1Medical Physics,
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United
Kingdom; 2School of Physics & Astronomy, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 3Cancer Sciences,
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 4Department
of Electrical, Electronic, & Computer Engineering, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Temperature may be a useful supplementary biomarker for the clinical management of brain tumours. In-vivo 1H MRS can provide absolute local temperature measurements through the empirical linear relationship between temperature and water chemical shift. However, fast chemical and magnetization exchange effects also contribute to water chemical shift. This study investigates water chemical shift differences due to temperature and fast exchange effects in two types of childhood brain tumours using short-TE and long-TE 1H MRS. Significant differences in water chemical shift between tumour types and TE are found, suggesting that fast exchange effects may contribute significantly to observed apparent temperature differences.