Correlation between MRI findings and histological diagnosis of brainstem glioma

In most studies, treatment decisions of brainstem glioma are based solely on MRI features and do not incorporate a histopathological diagnosis. In the current study, we sought to compare MRI characteristics with histopathological findings of bainstem glioma.

From April 2003 through April 2012, 150 patients were diagnosed with brainstem gliomas by MRI and microsurgically treated in Tiantan Hospital, Beijing, China. All the MRI and histopathological findings of these patients were respectively reviewed.

Of the 150 patients, 65 were female and 85 were male, 120 were adults and 30 were children (age < 18 years), 108 were low-grade glioma (72.0%), 35 were high-grade glioma (23.3%). The accuracy of the MRI diagnosis for brainstem glioma was 95.3%. Data analysis of the MRI findings revealed that a focal lesion was associated with a more favorable histopathological diagnosis in intrinsic (P=0.005) and exophytic (P=0.001) brainstem glioma patients. In the intrinsic diffuse type, tumors without enhancement had more favorable pathological findings (P=0.009).

To our knowledge, this is the largest case series of this nature reported in the literature to date. The results of this study suggest that MRI features of brainstem gliomas could predict some pathological features and guide prognosis, choice of biopsy and treatment modalities. The pathology of tumors with a focal appearance on MRI was associated with a prognosis that was significantly better than their diffuse counterparts. For the intrinsic diffuse gliomas, non-enhancing tumors had pathology suggestive of a favorable prognosis.