Prognostic value of molecular and imaging biomarkers in patients with supratentorial glioma

Purpose We evaluated the relationship between 11 C-methionine PET ( 11 C-METH PET) findings and molecular biomarkers in patients with supratentorial glioma who underwent surgery. Methods A consecutive series of 109 patients with pathologically proven glioma (64 men, 45 women; median age 43 years) referred to our Institution from March 2012 to January 2015 for tumour resection and who underwent preoperative 11 C-METH PET were analysed. Semiquantitative evaluation of the 11 C-METH PET images included SUVmax, region of interest-to-normal brain SUV ratio (SUVratio) and metabolic tumour volume (MTV). Imaging findings were correlated with disease outcome in terms of progression-free survival (PFS), and compared with other clinical biological data, including IDH1 mutation status, 1p/19q codeletion and MGMT promoter methylation. The patients were monitored for a mean period of 16.7 months (median 13 months). Results In all patients, the tumour was identified on 11 C-METH PET. Significant differences in SUVmax, SUVratio and MTV were observed in relation to tumour grade ( p