Volume-based histogram analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI for estimation of gliomas IDH1 mutation status

The study aimed to investigate whether isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation status in gliomas can be estimated by volume-based histogram analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Preoperative DCE-MRI data of 85 pathologically confirmed glioma patients including 33 carrying IDH1 mutant type (IDH1^mut) and 52 with IDH1 wildtype (IDH1^wt) were reviewed in a retrospective approach. Regions of interest (ROI) covering entire tumor volume were manually delineated using O.K. software (OmniKinetics, GE Healthcare, China). Histogram parameters of volume transfer constant (K^trans) and volume of extravascular /extracellular space per unit volume of tissue (V_e) derived from DCE-MRI were obtained. Mann-Whitney U tests were made to compare the differences in histogram parameters of K^trans and V_e between IDH1^mut and IDH1^wt in all gliomas and high-grade gliomas (HGGs, grade III and IV). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis were implemented to assess the diagnostic performance.

In histogram parameters of K^trans and V_e, pairwise comparisons demonstrated statistically significant differences in mean, standard deviation (SD), 90th and 95th percentiles (90%, 95%) values between IDH1^mut and IDH1^wt in all cases of gliomas and HGGs (P < 0.05, respectively). The ROC analysis revealed that the cut-off values of 95% value of K^trans (0.097 min^-1) and mean value of V_e (0.099) provided the best combination of sensitivity and specificity to distinguish all gliomas with IDH1^mut from IDH1^wt. In HGGs, the cut-off values of mean value of K^trans and V_e (0.044 min^-1, 0.099) played similar role.

Volume-based histogram analysis of DCE-MRI performs well in identification of IDH1^mut gliomas.