Gliosarcomas: magnetic resonance imaging findings

Central nervous system (CNS) gliosarcoma (GSM) is a rare primary neoplasm characterized by the presence of glial and sarcomatous components.

In this report, we describe the clinical and neuroimaging aspects of three cases of GSM and correlate these aspects with pathological findings. We also provide a brief review of relevant literature.

Three patients were evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of primary GSM, without previous radiotherapy.

The analysis of conventional sequences (T1, T1 after contrast injection, T2, Fluid attenuation inversion recovery, SWI and DWI/ADC map) and advanced (proton 1H MR spectroscopy and perfusion) revealed an irregular, necrotic aspect of the lesion, peritumoral edema/infiltration and isointensity of the solid component on a T2-weighted image. These features were associated with irregular and peripheral contrast enhancement, lipid and lactate peaks, increased choline and creatine levels in proton spectroscopy, increased relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in perfusion, multifocality and drop metastasis in one of the cases.

These findings are discussed in relation to the general characteristics of GSM reported in the literature.