Grading of Glioma: combined diagnostic value of amide proton transfer weighted, arterial spin labeling and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging

To investigate the ability of amide proton transfer (APT) weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and the combination for differentiating high-grade gliomas (HGGs) from low-grade gliomas (LGGs). Twenty-seven patients including nine LGGs and eighteen HGGs underwent conventional, APT, ASL and DWI MRI with a 3.0-T MR scanner. Histogram analyses was performed and quantitative parameters including mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC mean), 20th-percentile ADC (ADC 20th), mean APT (APT mean), 90th-percentile APT (APT 90th), relative mean cerebral blood flow (rCBF mean) and relative 90th-percentile CBF (rCBF 90th) were compared between HGGs and LGGs. The diagnostic performance was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of each parameter and their combination. Correlations were analyzed among the MRI parameters and Ki-67. The APT values were significantly higher in the HGGs compared to the LGGs (p