Predicting Outcome of Patients with High-grade Gliomas After Radiotherapy using Quantitative Analysis of T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Christina Tsien, Diana Gomez-Hassan, Thomas L. Chenevert, Julia Lee, Theodore Lawrence, Randall K. Ten Haken, Larry R. Junck, Brian Ross, Yue Cao

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that measuring quantitative changes in signal intensity early after radiotherapy (RT) in the contrast-enhancing tumor rim and nonenhancing core may be a noninvasive marker of early treatment response in patients with high-grade gliomas. Methods and Materials: Twenty patients with high-grade gliomas had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed 1 week before RT, during Weeks 1 and 3 of RT, and every 1 to 3 months after RT as part of a clinical prospective study. Regions of interest (ROI) including contrast-enhancing rim, and the nonenhancing core were defined automatically based on a calculated image of post- to precontrast T1-weighted MRI. Pretreatment T1-weighted MRI signal intensity changes were compared with Weeks 1 and 3 RT and 1 and 3 months post-RT MRI. Clinical and MRI parameters were then tested for prediction of overall survival. Results: Regional T1-weighted signal intensity changes in both the contrast-enhancing rim and the nonenhancing core were observed in all patients during Week 1 and Week 3 of RT. Imaging parameters including signal intensity change within the nonenhancing core after Weeks 1 to 2 RT (p = 0.004), Weeks 3 to 4 RT (p = 0.002) and 1 month after completion of RT (p = 0.002) were predictive of overall survival. Using multivariate analysis including RTOG recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) and signal intensity change, only the signal intensity change in the nonenhancing core at 1 month after RT (p = 0.01) retained significance. Conclusion: Quantitative measurements of T1-weighted MRI signal intensity changes in the nonenhancing tumor core (using ratios of pre-post values) may provide valuable information regarding early response during treatment and improve our ability to predict posttreatment outcome.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1476-1483
    Number of pages8
    JournalInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
    Volume67
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 1 2007

    Keywords

    • Conformal radiotherapy
    • Glioblastoma multiforme
    • Magnetic resonance imaging

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