Abstract：Objective: To investigate the value of tCho concentration in differentiating benign and malignant breast tumors. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six breast tumors(27 breast cancers and 9 fibroadenomas) were studied. MR spectra of 36 breast tumors were obtained and tCho concentrations were quantified with choline phantom as the external standard. tCho concentrations of benign and malignant breast tumors were compared. ROC curve was used to analyze the value of tCho concentration in differentiating benign and malignant tumors. Results: The tCho concentrations of breast cancers and fibroadenomas were (4.28±2.93)mM and (0.09±0.27)mM respectively. Significant difference was found between them. The area under ROC curve was 0.979±0.24. Taking 0.99mM as the threshold, the sensitivity and specificity were 96.3%, 100% respectively. Conclusions: Differentiation between benign and malignant breast tumors with tCho concentration was applicable and for tumors larger than 1cm, the sensitivity and specificity were relatively high.
2008, Vol. 19 
