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Updated: May 23, 2026
A Standardized Pipeline for Examining Human Cerebellar Grey Matter Morphometry using Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: February 4, 2022
Utility of apparent diffusion coefficient ratios in distinguishing common pediatric cerebellar tumors
Barjor Gimi1, Kevin Cederberg, Betul Derinkuyu
1Department of Radiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
Rationale And Objectives:
The aim of this study was to identify clinically useful tumor/normal brain apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) ratios for distinguishing common pediatric cerebellar tumors.
Materials And Methods:
Review of medical records revealed 79 patients with cerebellar tumors who underwent preoperative magnetic resonance imaging, including diffusion-weighted imaging sequences, and surgery. There were 31 pilocytic astrocytomas, 27 medulloblastomas, 14 ependymomas, and seven atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors. ADC values were measured by placing regions of interest on the solid tumor and normal brain parenchyma by two reviewers. Tumor/normal brain ADC ratios were calculated.
Results:
Mean ADC values of the pilocytic astrocytomas were greater than those of ependymomas, whose mean ADC values were greater than those of medulloblastomas and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors. Using a tumor/normal brain ADC ratio threshold of 1.70 to distinguish pilocytic astrocytomas from ependymomas, sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 79% were achieved. A tumor/normal brain ADC ratio threshold of 1.20 enabled the sorting of ependymomas from medulloblastomas with sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 88%.
Conclusions:
Tumor/normal brain ADC ratios allow the distinguishing of common pediatric cerebellar tumors.
