Open AccessDiffuse midline gliomas, H3 K27M-mutant are associated with less peritumoral edema and contrast enhancement in comparison to glioblastomas, H3 K27M-wildtype of midline structures
Author(s) -
Rouzbeh Banan,
Arash Akbarian,
M. Samii,
Amir Samii,
Helmut Bertalanffy,
Ulrich Lehmann,
Christian Hartmann,
R. Brüning
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0249647
Subject(s) - medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , edema , brainstem , pathology , spinal cord , contrast enhancement , thalamus , contrast (vision) , glioma , necrosis , nuclear medicine , radiology , cancer research , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science
Purpose The entity ‘diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27M-mutant (DMG)’ was introduced in the revised 4 th edition of the 2016 WHO classification of brain tumors. However, there are only a few reports on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of these tumors. Thus, we conducted a retrospective survey focused on MRI features of DMG compared to midline glioblastomas H3 K27M-wildtype (mGBM-H3wt). Methods We identified 24 DMG cases and 19 mGBM-H3wt patients as controls. After being retrospectively evaluated for microscopic evidence of microvascular proliferations (MVP) and tumor necrosis by two experienced neuropathologists to identify the defining histological criteria of mGBM-H3wt, the samples were further analyzed by two experienced readers regarding imaging features such as shape, peritumoral edema and contrast enhancement. Results The DMG were found in the thalamus in 37.5% of cases (controls 63%), in the brainstem in 50% (vs. 32%) and spinal cord in 12.5% (vs. 5%). In MRI and considering MVP, DMG were found to be by far less likely to develop peritumoral edema (OR: 0.13; 95%-CL: 0.02–0.62) ( p = 0.010). They, similarly, were associated with a significantly lower probability of developing strong contrast enhancement compared to mGBM-H3wt (OR: 0.10; 95%-CL: 0.02–0.47) ( P = 0.003). Conclusion Despite having highly variable imaging features, DMG exhibited markedly less edema and lower contrast enhancement in MRI compared to mGBM-H3wt. Of these features, the enhancement level was associated with evidence of MVP.