Frontiers in Neuroscience (Feb 2022)

Differentiation of Neoplastic and Non-neoplastic Intracranial Enhancement Lesions Using Three-Dimensional Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling

  • Wen-zhong Hu,
  • Wen-zhong Hu,
  • Fan Guo,
  • Yong-qiang Xu,
  • Yi-bin Xi,
  • Bei He,
  • Hong Yin,
  • Hong Yin,
  • Xiao-wei Kang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.812997
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16

Abstract

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Background and PurposeIt is sometimes difficult to effectively distinguish non-neoplastic from neoplastic intracranial enhancement lesions using conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D-pCASL) to differentiate non-neoplastic from neoplastic enhancement lesions intracranially.Materials and MethodsThis prospective study included thirty-five patients with high-grade gliomas (HGG), twelve patients with brain metastasis, and fifteen non-neoplastic patients who underwent conventional, contrast enhancement and 3D-pCASL imaging at 3.0-T MR; all lesions were significantly enhanced. Quantitative parameters including cerebral blood flow (CBF) and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were compared between neoplastic and non-neoplastic using Student’s t-test. In addition, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was measured to assess the differentiation diagnostic performance of each parameter.ResultsThe non-neoplastic group demonstrated significantly lower rCBF values of lesions and perilesional edema compared with the neoplastic group. For the ROC analysis, both relative cerebral blood flow of lesion (rCBF-L) and relative cerebral blood flow of perilesional edema (rCBF-PE) had good diagnostic performance for discriminating non-neoplastic from neoplastic lesions, with an AUC of 0.994 and 0.846, respectively.Conclusion3D-pCASL may contribute to differentiation of non-neoplastic from neoplastic lesions.

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