The use of 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in studying radiation-induced injury of the brain in elderly and young patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background: this study aims to investigate the metabolic characteristics of radiotherapy-induced temporal lobe injury in elderly patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma using 1h-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (mrs). materials and methods: data were collected from 21 elderly patients and 33 young patients before and during therapy with different radiation dosages (20,40,and 60 gy). the student's t-test was used to compare the 1h -mrs-based n-acetyl aspartate /creatine (naa/cr),choline/creatine (cho/ cr),and naa/cho ratios in the temporal lobes. results: statistically significant differences in the naa/cr and naa/cho ratios was found between the two groups (p < 0.05) at 20,40,and 60 gy. the cho/cr ratios (20/40/60 gy) were 1.82 ± 0.16/1.61 ± 0.29/1.37 ± 0.13 and 1.77 ± 0.19/1.48 ± 0.17/1.06 ± 0.14 in the elderly and young patients,respectively. we found significant differences between the two groups at the dosages of 40 and 60 gy (p<0.05). the decrease in the naa/cr and naa/cho ratios in the elderly group was significantly higher than that in the young patients with dosages of 20,40,and 60 gy. the decrease in the cho/cr ratio in the elderly group (2.15%/11.29%/12.90%) was significantly lower than that in the young patients (3.30%/15.93%/17.58%). conclusion: under the same radiotherapy pa