The Significance of Relative Cerebral Blood Volume Index in Discriminating Glial Tumors from Brain Metastasis Using Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

TL;DR

This study shows that perfusion MRI can help distinguish glial tumors from brain metastases by measuring blood volume differences.

Contribution

The study identifies rCBV as a novel imaging biomarker for differentiating glial tumors from metastases using perfusion MRI.

Findings

Tumoral and peritumoral rCBV values were significantly higher in glial tumors compared to metastases.

ROC analysis showed high sensitivity and specificity for rCBV in differentiating tumor types.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The accurate diagnosis and classification of brain tumors are critical for appropriate treatment planning and patient management. We evaluated the effectiveness of perfusion in differentiating glial tumors from metastases using dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast enhanced perfusion MRI (DSC-MRI) Methods: A total of 95 consecutive patients with pathological diagnoses of brain tumors who underwent perfusion MRI between July 2021 and March 2023 were retrospectively recruited. Conventional and perfusion MRI were evaluated, and tumoral and peritumoral relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) values were measured. Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were performed for non-parametric comparisons of continuous data. The optimal cut-off value of rCBV in differentiating tumor types was evaluated with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Tumoral rCBV (p < 0.001) and peritumoral rCBV values (p = 0.001) were significantly higher in glial tumors than metastases. Further subgroup analyses showed that tumoral and peritumoral rCBV values of glial tumors were higher than those of non-small-cell lung cancers (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively) and those of breast cancer (p = 0.311 and p = 0.053, respectively) in discriminating high-grade glial tumors and metastases. ROC analyses showed that area under the curve values for tumoral and peritumoral rCBV were 0.816 and 0.725, respectively, for the optimal cut-off points 1.339 and 1.238 (87.5% and 58.33% sensitivity; 73.85% and 90.77% specificity, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that increased tumoral rCBV and peritumoral rCBV values were independent risk factors for glial tumor occurrence. Conclusions: DSC-MRI is an effective method to differentiate glial tumors and metastases. Higher rCBV values may serve as a determinant for the diagnosis of glial tumors and metastatic brain tumors.

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