Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of plasma for the detection of head and neck cancer

• Published in: American journal of otolaryngology Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 244 - 249
• Main Authors: Dawson, Douglas E., Sekhar, Vasu, Pearson, Gerald, Vaickus, Louis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.07.1989; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; diagnosis; head and neck cancer; Head and Neck Neoplasms - blood; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; NMR spectroscopy; Otorhinolaryngology (head neck, general aspects and miscellaneous); Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Plasma - analysis; Predictive Value of Tests; squamous cell carcinoma; Tumors; diagnosis; head and neck cancer; NMR spectroscopy; squamous cell carcinoma; Head and neck; Plasma; ENT disease; Tumor; NMR spectrometry; Diagnosis
• ISSN: 0196-0709; 1532-818X
• DOI: 10.1016/0196-0709(89)90003-3

The plasma of 15 normal volunteers, four patients with benign head and neck disease, and 12 patients with biopsy proven head and neck malignancies were evaluated using water-suppressed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. While the mean full width at half height (HHLW) of the NMR spectra showed a significant difference between groups ( P < .05), the predictive value of a positive test was only 57% the sensitivity was only 33%, and individual values in all groups demonstrated considerable overlap. The mean HHLW of the control group was 38.5 Hz ± 3.5 compared with 35.2 Hz ± 4.7 for the cancer group and 35.0 Hz ± 10 for the benign disease group. This method was not able to distinguish patients with malignancy from those with benign disease or controls. Its use as a specific screening method for head and neck malignancy cannot be recommended.