Short echo time single voxel magnetic resonance spectoscopy in the characterisation of childhood brain tumours.

INTRODUCTION Brain tumours are the most common solid tumour in childhood, while Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) studies have been performed on brain tumours previously, the majority have been performed on the adult patient population and at long echo times. The work presented in this thesis outlines work performed in the usage of short echo time MRS in the characterisation of childhood brain tumours. METHODS Short echo time MRS was performed on children with brain tumours at the time of diagnostic imaging. In addition, follow up data was accrued for some patients. Resulting spectra were assessed for characteristics either of diagnosis, prognosis or treatment response. RESULTS Spectra collected were used in assessing characteristics of an array of childhood brain tumours. Initially the technique was tested on a well understood dataset of cerebellar tumours, and was later expanded to provide diagnostic aids for both brain stem tumours and pineal region tumours. A group of pilocytic astrocytomas were assessed for differences by location within the brain, for prognosis and for response to treatment. CONCLUSIONS The additional information given by short echo time MRS was useful in the characterisation of childhood brain tumour