Investigating dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in posterior fossa tumors: differences and similarities with supratentorial tumors

Simona Gaudino, Massimo Benenati, Matia Martucci, Annibale Botto, Amato Infante, Antonio Marrazzo, Antonia Ramaglia, Giammaria Marziali, Pamela Guadalupi, Cesare Colosimo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in glioma grading and brain tumor characterization of infratentorial tumors, and to investigate differences from supratentorial tumors. Methods: This retrospective study, approved by the institutional review board, included 246 patients with brain tumors (184 supratentorial, 62 infratentorial), grouped by tumor type: high-grade gliomas (HGG), low-grade gliomas (LGG), metastases (Met), and primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and mean percentage of signal recovery (PSR) were calculated. For statistical analyses, lesions were grouped by location and histology. Differences were tested with Mann–Whitney U tests. From ROC curves, we calculated accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV, for rCBV and PSR. Results: For infratentorial tumors, rCBV was highly accurate in differentiating HGG from LGG (AUC = 0.938). Mean PSR showed high accuracy in differentiating PCNSL and HGG from Met (AUC = 0.978 and AUC = 0.881, respectively). Infratentorial and supratentorial tumors had similarly high rCBV in HGG, high mean PSR in PCNSL, and low mean PSR in Met. The main differences were the optimum threshold rCBV values (3.04 for supratentorial, 1.77 for infratentorial tumors) and the mean PSR, which was significantly higher in LGG than in HGG in supratentorial (p = 0.035), but not infratentorial gliomas. Using infratentorial rCBV threshold values for supratentorial tumors decreased the sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: rCBV and mean PSR were useful in grading and differentiating infratentorial tumors. Proper cutoff values were important in the accuracy of perfusion-weighted imaging in posterior fossa tumors.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)416-422
Number of pages7
JournalLA RADIOLOGIA MEDICA
Volume125
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Brain tumors
  • Dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC)
  • Gliomas
  • Infratentorial
  • Perfusion-weighted MRI (PWI)
  • Supratentorial

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigating dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in posterior fossa tumors: differences and similarities with supratentorial tumors'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this