Identification of a Single-Dose, Low-Flip-Angle-Based CBV Threshold for Fractional Tumor Burden Mapping in Recurrent Glioblastoma

Authors

Aliya Anil
Ashley M Stokes
John P Karis
Laura C Bell
Jennifer Eschbacher
Kristofer Jennings
Melissa A Prah
Leland S Hu
Jerrold L Boxerman
Kathleen M Schmainda
C Chad Quarles

Language

English

Publication Date

10-3-2024

Journal

American Journal of Neuroradiology

DOI

10.3174/ajnr.A8357

PMID

38782593

PMCID

PMC11448978

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

10-1-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Background and purpose: DSC-MR imaging can be used to generate fractional tumor burden (FTB) maps via application of relative CBV thresholds to spatially differentiate glioblastoma recurrence from posttreatment radiation effects (PTRE). Image-localized histopathology was previously used to validate FTB maps derived from a reference DSC-MR imaging protocol by using preload, a moderate flip angle (MFA, 60°), and postprocessing leakage correction. Recently, a DSC-MR imaging protocol with a low flip angle (LFA, 30°) with no preload was shown to provide leakage-corrected relative CBV (rCBV) equivalent to the reference protocol. This study aimed to identify the rCBV thresholds for the LFA protocol that generate the most accurate FTB maps, concordant with those obtained from the reference MFA protocol.

Materials and methods: Fifty-two patients with grade-IV glioblastoma who had prior surgical resection and received chemotherapy and radiation therapy were included in the study. Two sets of DSC-MR imaging data were collected sequentially first by using LFA protocol with no preload, which served as the preload for the subsequent MFA protocol. Standardized relative CBV maps (sRCBV) were obtained for each patient and coregistered with the anatomic postcontrast T1-weighted images. The reference MFA-based FTB maps were computed by using previously published sRCBV thresholds (1.0 and 1.56). A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted to identify the optimal, voxelwise LFA sRCBV thresholds, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the LFA-based FTB maps were computed with respect to the MFA-based reference.

Results: The mean sRCBV values of tumors across patients exhibited strong agreement (concordance correlation coefficient = 0.99) between the 2 protocols. Using the ROC analysis, the optimal lower LFA threshold that accurately distinguishes PTRE from tumor recurrence was found to be 1.0 (sensitivity: 87.77%; specificity: 90.22%), equivalent to the ground truth. To identify aggressive tumor regions, the ROC analysis identified an upper LFA threshold of 1.37 (sensitivity: 90.87%; specificity: 91.10%) for the reference MFA threshold of 1.56.

Conclusions: For LFA-based FTB maps, an sRCBV threshold of 1.0 and 1.37 can differentiate PTRE from recurrent tumors. FTB maps aid in surgical planning, guiding pathologic diagnosis and treatment strategies in the recurrent setting. This study further confirms the reliability of single-dose LFA-based DSC-MR imaging.

Keywords

Humans, Glioblastoma, Brain Neoplasms, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local, Aged, Adult, Tumor Burden, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Sensitivity and Specificity

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Anil, Aliya; Stokes, Ashley M; Karis, John P; et al., "Identification of a Single-Dose, Low-Flip-Angle-Based CBV Threshold for Fractional Tumor Burden Mapping in Recurrent Glioblastoma" (2024). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 5914.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/5914