Table 3.
main results of magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies
| Publication | Numbers of patients/controls | Main results | Main clinical correlations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowen et al., [94] | 18/12 | Cho and ins were elevated in the MC. NAA and Cr were correlated in left MC | Correlation between ins in MC and UMN disability, negative correlation between Naa in MC and UMN disability, higher Cho in sever UMN disability group |
| Cervo et al., [90] | 84/28 | NAA/(Cho + Cr) was low in the MC | Negative |
| Foerster et al., [95] | 10/9 | Low gamma aminobutyric acid in the MC but not in WM | Negative |
| Foerster et al., [55] | 29/30 | NAA and gamma aminobutyric acid were low and ins was elevated in the left MC | Negative correlation between gamma aminobutyric acid in MC and DD, correlation between Naa peak in MC and ALSFRS-R |
| Govind et al., [92] | 38/70 | NAA was low and Cho was elevated in most parts of CST, and Cho/NAA was elevated in all parts of the CSTs | Negative correlation between Cho/Naa in the left entire CST and forced vital capacity, negative correlation between Cho/Naa in the left CST and right and left finger tap rate, negative correlation between Cho/Naa in left MC and semiovale centrum and right finger tape or forced vital capacity |
| Han et al., [85] | 15/15 | NAA/Cr peak was low in the MC and PLIC, Glu/Cr and Glu + Gln/Cr peaks were low in the MC and PLIC | Negative correlation between Glu + Gln/Cr with Norris score |
| Kalra et al., [88, 89] | 63/18 | NAA/Cho and NAA/Cr was low in the MC, and Cho/Cr was elevated in the MC | Relation between decreased Naa/Cho in the MC and reduced survival. |
| Kalra et al., [88, 89] | 17/15 | NAA/Ins, NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho were low in the MC, and Ins/Cr was elevated in the MC | Negative (p ≤ 0.05) |
| Liu et al., [87] | 19/13 | NAA/Cr was low in the MC | Negative |
| Lombardo et al., [79] | 32/19 | NAA/Cr was low and ins/Cr and Cho/Cr were elevated in the MC. | Abnormalities were correlated with the El Escorial score |
| Pohl et al., [91] | 70/48 | NAA, Pcr + Cr, NAA/Cho and NAA/(Pcr + Cr) were low in the MC. At 12 months, NAA/Cho was low and Cho/(Pcr + Cr) was elevated | Not available |
| Pyra et al., [59] | 14/14 | NAA/Cho and NAA/Cr were low in the MC and corona radiata, and Cho/Cr was elevated in the MC | Correlation between Naa/Cho peak in MC and DD, negative correlation between Naa/Cho in MC and corona radiata and DPR |
| Rooney et al., [86] | 10/9 | NAA/(Cho + Cr) was low in the MC and CST but not in other regions | Correlation between Naa/(Cho + Cr) in the MC and maximum finger tape rate |
| Stagg et al., [47] | 13/14 | NAA was low along the CSTs | Correlation between Naa peak along CSTs and ALSFRS-R |
| Unrath et al., [96] | 8/0 | Progressive decrease over time in the NAA peak throughout the MC | Progressive decrease of Naa/(Cr + Cho) in the less affected hemisphere. Correlation between Naa and the more or less affected side (ALSFRS subscore). Correlation between Naa/(Cr + Cho) and the less affected side (ALSFRS subscore) |
| Verma et al., [93] | 21/10 | NAA/Cho was low in the right lingual gyrus, parts of the occipital lobe, left supramarginal gyrus and left caudate. NAA/Cr was low in the right MC, left frontal inferior operculum, right cuneus, parts of the occipital lobe, left caudate and left Heschl gyrus | Not available |
MC motor cortex, CST corticospinal tract, PLIC posterior limb of the internal capsule, WM white matter, NAA N-acetylaspartate, Cho choline, Gln glutamine, Glu glutamate, PCr phosphocreatine, Cr creatine or creatine + Pcr (the distinction is not relevant for interpretation), DD disease duration, DPR disease progression rate