Quantitative susceptibility mapping evaluation of glioma

To comprehensively evaluate the glioma using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).

Forty-two patients (18 women; mean age, 45 years) with pathologically confirmed gliomas were retrospectively included. All the patients underwent conventional and advanced MRI examinations (QSM, DWI, MRS, etc.). Five patients underwent paired QSM (pre- and post-enhancement). Four Visually Accessible Rembrandt Image (VASARI) features and intratumoural susceptibility signal (ITSS) were observed. Three ROIs each were manually drawn separately in the tumour parenchyma with relatively high and low magnetic susceptibility. The association between the tumour’s magnetic susceptibility and other MRI parameters was also analysed.

Morphologically, gliomas with heterogeneous ITSS were more similar to high-grade gliomas (p = 0.006, AUC: 0.72, sensitivity: 70%, and specificity: 73%). Heterogeneous ITSS was significantly associated with tumour haemorrhage, necrosis, diffusion restriction, and avid enhancement but did not change between pre- and post-enhanced QSM. Quantitatively, tumour parenchyma magnetic susceptibility had limited value in grading gliomas and identifying IDH mutation status, whereas the relatively low magnetic susceptibility of the tumour parenchyma helped identify oligodendrogliomas in IDH mutated gliomas (AUC = 0.78) with high specificity (100%). The relatively high tumour magnetic susceptibility significantly increased after enhancement (p = 0.039). Additionally, we found that the magnetic susceptibility of the tumour parenchyma was significantly correlated with ADC (r = 0.61) and Cho/NAA (r = 0.40).

QSM is a promising candidate for the comprehensive evaluation of gliomas, except for IDH mutation status. The magnetic susceptibility of tumour parenchyma may be affected by tumour cell proliferation.