Differentiation of Brain Metastases due to Primary Malignancy and Glioblastomas using Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced MR at 3T

Purpose:
To find out differences in cerebral blood volume (CBV) maps derived from dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DSCE-MRI) in glioblastomas and cerebral metastases. The main purpose was to compare CBV maps between metastases with different primary malignancies. Furthermore the metastasis group was compared with the glioblastoma group.
Method:
Conventional imaging and DSCE-MRI using 3T MRI system was performed in 114 patients, 38 glioblastomas and 76 metastases, 32 lung, 12 breast, 12 melanoma, 10 gastrointestinal (GI), and 10 other. CBV values were measured in the solid tumor area, peritumoral edema, area adjacent to peritumoral edema, and in normal apparent white matter in contralateral semioval center. The four subgroups of metastases were compared with one-way ANOVA to determine differences in CBV of significance. CBV values in glioblastomas and metastases were then statistically compared using paired t-test. Receiver -operating characteristic analysis was used to determine optimal cut-off values when parameters showed statistical differences.
Results:
There were no significantly differences in CBV between the four subgroups of metastases. CBV in the peritumoral edema significantly differentiated metastases from glioblastomas, p=0.0001. CBV cutoff value of 2.3 yielded a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 87, 87, 71, and 91% respectively.
Conclusions:
Differentiation of glioblastomas and metastases is possible using DSCE-MRI. No statistically significant differences regarding CBV between metastases from lung, breast, melanoma, and GI were detected.