Using quantitative MRI to study the association of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) status with oxygen metabolism and...

To investigate the characteristics of oxygen metabolism and the cellular structure of glioma using quantitative MRI to predict the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) status and to further understand the biological characteristics of gliomas.

In this retrospective study, 94 patients with gliomas eventually received quantitative MRI measures to study oxygen metabolism. The oxygen metabolism biomarker maps (oxygen extraction fraction [OEF] and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen [CMRO₂]) and the tissue-cellular-specific (R₂t*) MRI relaxation parameter were evaluated in different regions of glioma.

MRI results showed differences in oxygen metabolism measures in all patients with gliomas of different IDH1 statuses. Compared to patients with IDH1 mutant gliomas, patients with IDH1 wild type gliomas showed increased (P < 0.01) CMRO₂, OEF, cerebral blood volume [CBF], and R₂t* measures in tumor regions, while only OEF, CBF and R₂t* were found to be increased (P < 0.05) in the peritumoral area. OEF achieved the best performance for distinguishing IDH1 wild type and mutant gliomas in the tumor area (AUC = 0.732, P < 0.001). R₂t* values correlated with Ki-67(R = 0.35, P < 0.001) in the tumor area, while no significant correlations between Ki-67 and R₂t* were found in the peritumoral area (R = 0.19, P = 0.072).

Quantitative MRI has potential applications in studying the tumor and peritumoral areas of glioma, and it has the ability to predict and reveal the characteristics of oxygen metabolism and cellular structure in different regions of gliomas.