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Exploring MRI Characteristics of Brain Diffuse Midline Gliomas With the H3 K27M Mutation Using Radiomics
Qian Li1, Fei Dong1, Biao Jiang1
1Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Objectives:
To explore the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of brain diffuse midline gliomas with the H3 K27M mutation (DMG-M) using radiomics.
Materials And Methods:
Thirty patients with diffuse midline gliomas, including 16 with the H3 K27M mutant and 14 with wild type tumors, were retrospectively included in this study. A total of 272 radiomic features were initially extracted from MR images of each tumor. Principal component analysis, univariate analysis, and three other feature selection methods, including variance thresholding, recursive feature elimination, and the elastic net, were used to analyze the radiomic features. Based on the results, related visually accessible features of the tumors were further evaluated.
Results:
Patients with DMG-M were younger than those with diffuse midline gliomas with H3 K27M wild (DMG-W) (median, 25.5 and 48 years old, respectively; p=0.005). Principal component analysis showed that there were obvious overlaps in the first two principal components for both DMG-M and DMG-W tumors. The feature selection results showed that few features from T2-weighted images (T2WI) were useful for differentiating DMG-M and DMG-W tumors. Thereafter, four visually accessible features related to T2WI were further extracted and analyzed. Among these features, only cystic formation showed a significant difference between the two types of tumors (OR=7.800, 95% CI 1.476-41.214, p=0.024).
Conclusions:
DMGs with and without the H3 K27M mutation shared similar MRI characteristics. T2W sequences may be valuable, and cystic formation a useful MRI biomarker, for diagnosing brain DMG-M.
Insights
Brain diffuse midline gliomas (DMG-M) with H3 K27M mutations show similar MRI characteristics to wild-type tumors. Cystic formation on T2-weighted images may help diagnose DMG-M.
Area of Science:
- Neuro-oncology
- Radiology
- Medical imaging analysis
Background:
- Diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) are aggressive brain tumors.
- The H3 K27M mutation is a key molecular marker in DMGs.
- Radiomics offers potential for non-invasive tumor characterization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the MRI radiomic features of H3 K27M-mutant DMGs (DMG-M) versus wild-type DMGs (DMG-W).
- To identify imaging biomarkers for differentiating these tumor types.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 30 DMG patients (16 DMG-M, 14 DMG-W).
- Extraction and analysis of 272 radiomic features from MRI scans.
- Application of feature selection techniques (PCA, univariate, variance thresholding, RFE, elastic net).
- Evaluation of visually accessible T2-weighted imaging features.
Main Results:
- DMG-M patients were significantly younger (median 25.5 vs 48 years).
- Radiomic feature analysis showed minimal differentiation between DMG-M and DMG-W.
- Cystic formation on T2-weighted images was the only significant differentiating feature (OR=7.800, p=0.024).
Conclusions:
- DMGs with and without H3 K27M mutation exhibit largely overlapping MRI characteristics.
- T2-weighted imaging sequences are valuable for DMG assessment.
- Cystic formation is a potential MRI biomarker for diagnosing brain DMG-M.
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