Diffusion imaging could aid to differentiate between glioma progression and treatment-related abnormalities: a meta-analysis

Background In a considerable subgroup of glioma patients treated with (chemo) radiation new lesions develop either representing tumor progression (TP) or treatment-related abnormalities (TRA). Quantitative diffusion imaging metrics such as the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) and Fractional Anisotropy (FA) have been reported as potential metrics to noninvasively differentiate between these two phenomena. Variability in performance scores of these metrics and absence of a critical overview of the literature contribute to the lack of clinical implementation. This meta-analysis therefore critically reviewed the literature and meta-analyzed the performance scores. Methods Systematic searching was carried out in PubMed, EMBASE and The Cochrane Library. Using predefined criteria, papers were reviewed. Diagnostic accuracy values of suitable papers were meta-analyzed quantitatively. Results Of 1252 identified papers, 10 ADC papers, totaling 414 patients, and 4 FA papers, with 154 patients were eligible for meta-analysis. Mean ADC values of the patients in the TP/TRA groups were 1.13 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s (95% CI 0.912 × 10 –3 –1.32 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s) and 1.38 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s (95% CI 1.33 × 10 –3 –1.45 × 10 −3 mm 2 /s, respectively. Mean FA values of TP/TRA was 0.19 (95% CI 0.189–0.194) and 0.14 (95% CI 0.137–0.143) respectively. A significant mean difference between ADC and FA values in TP versus TRA was observed ( p = 0.005). Conclusions Quantitative ADC and FA values could be useful for distinguishing TP from TRA on a meta-level. Further studies using serial imaging of individual patients are warranted to determine the role of diffusion imaging in glioma patients.