Differentiating Brain Metastasis and High-Grade Glioma Using Multi-b Value Diffusion MRI and Tumor Volumetry.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Neuro-oncology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Differentiating brain metastases from high-grade gliomas (HGGs) is crucial for treatment planning.
• Current diagnostic methods may have limitations in distinguishing these entities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of using multi-b value diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volumetry.
• To develop a tool for differentiating between brain metastases and HGGs.

Main Methods:

• Prospective collection of preoperative brain MRI data, including morphological and multi-b value diffusion sequences.
• Semiautomated segmentation of tumor and edema, followed by derivation of diffusion parameters and tissue volumes.
• Analysis of diffusion parameters using histogram analysis, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and LASSO regression.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in 66 histogram diffusion parameters and tissue volumes were observed between metastasis and HGG subgroups.
• LASSO regression identified 17 key parameters for differentiation.
• A decision tree model achieved high sensitivity and specificity in both training and validation datasets.

Conclusions:

• Multi-b value diffusion MRI combined with tumor volumetry shows promise as a diagnostic tool.
• This approach may aid in reliably differentiating high-grade gliomas from brain metastases.