Usefulness of ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopy in human testes: preliminary study

Aim: To identify and quantify the metabolites detected on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) in human testes. Materials and methods: The institutional review board approved the study, and all patients provided informed consent. A total of 27 patients consulting the Urology Department underwent single-voxel ¹H-MRS (4000 ms repetition time [RT], 31 ms echo time [TE], 128 averages for each TE) at 1.5 T. Spectroscopy was not evaluable in one patient, and four patients had only one testis; thus, 48 testes were studied. Choline-containing compounds (Cho) and methylene lipid (Lip) values were measured and the Cho/Lip ratio was calculated. Testes were classified as normal or abnormal based on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. The Mann–Whitney U-test was used for correlated data and bootstrapping to compare mean Cho/Lip ratios between normal and abnormal testes, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated. Results: Thirty testes were classified as normal and 18 as abnormal. The mean Cho/Lip ratio was 1.02±0.46 in normal testes and 0.45±0.36 in abnormal testes (Mann–Whitney U, p=0.001; bootstrapping mean difference, 0.57; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32–0.82; AUC=0.833). Conclusion: ¹H-MRS could be useful in routine clinical practice to identify the major metabolites in the testes and help discriminate between normal and abnormal testes. -- Highlights: •We identify and quantify the metabolites detected of ¹H-MR spectroscopy in human testes. •The differences between the ratio Cho/Lip in normal and abnormal testes were studied. •¹H-MR spectroscopy findings might allow to discriminate between normal and pathological testis