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Repeatability of Cerebral Perfusion Using Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI in Glioblastoma Patients
Kourosh Jafari-Khouzani1, Kyrre E Emblem2, Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer1
1Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) demonstrates high repeatability for assessing brain perfusion in high-grade glioma patients. This technique reliably measures cerebral blood volume and cerebral blood flow, crucial for treatment monitoring.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Neuro-oncology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Glioblastoma treatment requires accurate monitoring of brain perfusion.
- Dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) is a key technique for assessing perfusion parameters like cerebral blood volume (CBV) and cerebral blood flow (CBF).
- Evaluating the repeatability of DSC-MRI is crucial for its reliable clinical application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the repeatability of DSC-MRI for brain perfusion measurements in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
- To compare the repeatability of various post-processing methods, including contrast agent leakage correction, normalization, and arterial input function (AIF) deconvolution.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-two glioblastoma patients underwent two DSC-MRI scans 1-5 days apart on a 3-T MRI scanner.
- Perfusion maps (CBV and CBF) were generated using different post-processing techniques.
- Repeatability was evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and repeatability coefficients (RCs) in tumor and healthy tissues.
Main Results:
- DSC-MRI showed high repeatability for CBV and CBF within tumors (ICC up to 0.97).
- Repeatability was lower in healthy cortical and white matter tissues.
- Normalization improved repeatability, while AIF deconvolution did not significantly impact it.
Conclusions:
- DSC-MRI is a highly repeatable method for evaluating brain perfusion in patients with high-grade gliomas.
- The findings support the use of DSC-MRI for monitoring treatment response and disease progression in glioblastoma.
