The diagnostic value of contrast enhancement on MRI in diffuse and anaplastic gliomas

Purpose We evaluated differentiations in gadolinium contrast enhancement (CE) between low-grade WHO degrees II and high-grade WHO degrees III gliomas in conventional MRI, which have been repeatedly questioned. Methods Ninety-nine patients, who underwent first resection of WHO degrees II and degrees III gliomas, were retrospectively retrieved from a prospective database. The quantitative metric volume of Gd-CE in T1-weighted pre-operative MRI was measured using volumetric segmentation. Results The OR to detect CE in anaplastic gliomas was seven times higher than that in diffuse gliomas (CI95% 2.8-17.2, p<0.0001). No CE was seen in 50% (8/16) of focal anaplastic and in 28% (10/36) of entirely anaplastic gliomas. CE was present in 21% (10/47) of diffuse gliomas. Anaplasia correlated with a larger CE volume (r=0.49, p<0.0001) and provided additional 4 cm(3 )of CE volume compared to entirely diffuse tumors. The OR to have CE was 3.6 times for IDH1 wild-type tumors (CI95% 1.3-10.2, p=0.05) and 4.8 for tumors with ATRX expression (CI95% 1.3-17.2, p=0.05). In all sub-groups, at least a quarter of cases showed no CE at all and there were cases with present CE. Conclusion CE is associated with higher odds of unfavorable prognostic features like anaplasia, wild-type IDH1 and retained ATRX. There was no CE in one-fourth of anaplastic gliomas and half of gliomas with focal anaplasia.

Automated summary

In the context of gadolinium contrast enhancement, the presence of anaplasia is associated with a higher likelihood of detecting CE, which in turn is linked to unfavorable prognostic features.