In Vivo 1 H MR Spectroscopy in the Evaluation of the Serial Development of Hepatocarcinogenesis in an Experimental Rat Model 1

Materials and Methods. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was induced by diethylnitrosamine in 70 treated rats with 20 normal rats used as controls. Single-voxel 1H MRS is performed to obtained the relative choline-to-lipid (Cho/lipid) ratio. The liver and tumor tissues are incised for the histologic examination. Based on the histologic result, the progression of hepatocarcinogenesis of the animal model was divided into three stages: fibrosis stage, cirrhosis stage, and HCC stage. The mean ( SD) ratio values are calculated and compared at various stages between the treated group and the control group.