Proton magnetic resonance and human cervical neoplasia. II. Ex vivo chemical-shift microimaging

Proton chemical-shift imaging at 8.5 T has been used to detect malignant foci in small (6 mm3) biopsies from the human uterine cervix. Images based on the lipid resonances of frankly malignant cells discriminate between tumor tissue and host stroma and distinguish invasive from preinvasive cervical cancer (n = 7). With this method, foci of malignant cells were revealed in 500 micron slices with an in-plane resolution of 40 by 160 microns. The MR intensity maps reflected the local distribution of malignant cells as assessed by histopathology. The lower signal-to-noise ratio inherent for these non-water-based images was improved by applying postacquisitional matched Gaussian window functions, thus effecting a substantial increase in contrast with minimal loss in spatial resolution.