Specific Preoperative Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI Semi-quantitative Markers Can Correlate With Vascularity in Specific Areas of Glioblastoma Tissue and Predict Recurrence

Background: Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive tumours despite all advanced therapies. We aimed to investigate the correlation between qualitative markers of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and vascularity in different tumour regions and elucidate their potential in predicting recurrence. Methods: Radiological markers of vascularity as wash-in rate, washout rate, and capillary time to peak in different single tumour regions were extracted for all glioblastoma patients before being surgically resected using preoperative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI). Tissue samples were obtained from different intratumoral regions and peritumoral oedema and evaluated for the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Results: Two hundred sixty individuals were included in the final analysis, with 180 dead ones and 80 survivors. Radio- and chemo-therapy were received by all surviving patients and 77.8% (n=140) of the dead ones. The mean time to peak, in seconds, was longest at the peritumoral oedema region (71.7 +/- 23.5), followed by the tumour's necrotic centre (50.0 +/- 28.5) and its periphery (2.9 +/- 1.8). The expression of VEGF at the peritumoral edema region was inversely correlated to the washout rate at the periphery (r=-0.66; P-value=0.014) and positively correlated to peritumoral TTP (r=0.94; P-value<0.001). Conclusion: Using DCE-MRI, VEGF expression may be used as a non-invasive marker to estimate tumour grade for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, the risk of glioblastoma recurrence could be determined by evaluating the washout rate at the tumour's periphery. Further large-scale studies are needed to validate the results and to have concrete evidence.

Automated summary

This study investigated the relationship between qualitative markers of glioblastoma assessed through dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and vascularity, identifying VEGF expression as a potential non-invasive marker for tumor grade estimation and recurrence risk prediction. Further large-scale studies are needed to validate these findings.