Motivation: To offer patients curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) it is crucial to make the diagnosis as early as possible. The sensitivity for diagnosis of HCC smaller than 1 cm with traditionally MRI is low. Goal(s): We aim to investigate if adding hyperpolarized 1-13C pyruvate to the conventional MRI exam can improve the diagnosis and aggressiveness assessment of HCC by characterizing tumor metabolism. Approach: We used hyperpolarized 1-13C pyruvate MRI to assess tumor metabolism in patients with HCC. Results: Results show altered metabolism in confirmed HCC and interestingly a case of glutaminase synthase positive HCC shows increased alanine/pyruvate compared to non-tumor liver. Impact: Hyperpolarized MRI in patients with HCC is feasible and may be used to detect early HCC and might characterize glutaminase synthase positive tumors non-invasively by increased alanine production.
Kjærgaard et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: