Impact of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Clinical Outcomes in a Propensity-Matched Low Grade Glioma Cohort

This study aims to evaluate the impact of preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on clinical outcomes in patients with low grade glioma (LGG).

In a retrospective propensity-matched cohort study, we compared patients with LGG based on whether they underwent fMRI as part of preoperative assessment. Twelve patients with LGG who underwent preoperative fMRI were selected, and a contemporaneous group of 12 control patients with LGG who did not undergo fMRI were matched to the fMRI group based on age, sex, and 1p/19q status.

fMRI group subjects tended to have more aggressive surgeries (67% resection, 33% biopsy) than the control group (33% resection, 67% biopsy). There were no significant differences in outcomes between the 2 groups. Time between clinical assessment and surgery tended to be longer in the fMRI group (6.3 ± 4.2 weeks) than in the control group (2.7 ± 2.2 weeks). Extent of resection was similar between the 2 cohorts. fMRI group subjects had lower preoperative functional status and tended to have a greater postoperative functional status improvement than control group subjects. Mean survival was not significantly different (fMRI group 5-year survival: 88.9%, control group 5-year survival: 61.1%).

We evaluated the impact of preoperative fMRI in patients with LGG in this propensity-matched cohort study. This study has not demonstrated any significant difference in outcomes between the fMRI and control groups; however, there were nonsignificant trends for patients who underwent fMRI to undergo more aggressive surgical interventions and have a greater postoperative functional status improvement.