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Updated: Jun 9, 2026
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Published on: July 28, 2013
Can diffusion tensor metrics help in preoperative grading of diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas? A retrospective
Milan Jolapara1, Satya Narayan Patro, Chandrasekharan Kesavadas
1Department of Imaging Sciences and Interventional Radiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India.
Introduction:
Diffusion weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) give information about the amount and directionality of water diffusion occurring in a given tissue. Here we study the role of diffusion tensor metrics including fractional anisotropy (FA) and spherical anisotropy (CS) in preoperative grading of diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas.
Methods:
We performed DTI in 38 patients with pathologically proven diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas, who were classified into two groups, i.e., 15 patients with high-grade astrocytoma (HGAs, WHO grade III and IV) and 23 patients with low-grade astrocytoma (LGAs, WHO grade II). We measured maximum FA and minimum CS values in all cases from tumor. Histopathological diagnosis was established in all cases.
Results:
The mean maximum FA values were higher in HGA (0.583 ± 0.104) than LGA (0.295 ± 0.058), while mean minimum CS values were lower in HGA (0.42 ± 0.121) than LGA (0.722 ± 0.061). The difference in the diffusion tensor indices between HGA and LGA was found to be statistically significant with P value of <0.001. Keeping cutoff FA value of 0.4, all HGAs showed higher maximum FA values, and all LGAs showed lower maximum FA values. Also, all HGAs showed minimum CS values less than a cutoff value of 0.6, and all LGAs showed minimum CS values higher than 0.6.
Conclusion:
Diffusion tensor metrics such as maximum FA and minimum CS can help to differentiate HGA from LGA.
