The symptoms of a brain tumor depend on the type of tumor, its location in the brain, its size, and how quickly it is growing.
Diagnosing Brain Tumors
When a tumor is suspected, a brain MRI must be carried out to visualize the affected area of the brain, determine the size of the lesion, and understand the nature of the tumor.
However, a definitive diagnosis requires the removal of a tumor fragment, either through direct excision of the brain tumor, and therefore the complete or partial removal of the tumor if this is possible based on its type and characteristics assessed by MRI, or through a simple biopsy in other cases.
At Paris Brain Institute
Researchers from the team led by Prof. Marc Sanson and Dr Emmanuelle Huillard, in collaboration with CENIR, the neuroimaging core facility at Paris Brain Institute – ICM, have developed a new non-invasive method for characterizing the properties of a particular type of tumor using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This technology allows MRI scans to quantify brain cell activity by identifying molecules associated with their metabolism.
Work on this subject has made it possible, in particular, to characterize the IDH mutation in patient tumors without the need for a biopsy, which would otherwise have been essential for molecular analysis and mutation screening.