T1 and ADC histogram parameters may be an in vivo biomarker for predicting the grade, subtype, and proliferative activity of meningioma

Objective To investigate the value of histogram analysis of T1 mapping and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in predicting the grade, subtype, and proliferative activity of meningioma. Methods This prospective study comprised 69 meningioma patients who underwent preoperative MRI including T1 mapping and DWI. The histogram metrics, including mean, median, maximum, minimum, 10th percentiles (C10), 90th percentiles (C90), kurtosis, skewness, and variance, of T1 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were extracted from the whole tumour and peritumoural oedema using FeAture Explorer. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison between low- and high-grade tumours. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the differential diagnostic performance. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to further classify meningioma subtypes. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were calculated to analyse the correlations between histogram parameters and Ki-67 expression. Results High-grade meningiomas showed significantly higher mean, maximum, C90, and variance of T1 ( p = 0.001–0.009), lower minimum, and C10 of ADC ( p = 0.013–0.028), compared to low-grade meningiomas. For all histogram parameters, the highest individual distinctive power was T1 C90 with an AUC of 0.805. The best diagnostic accuracy was obtained by combining the T1 C90 and ADC C10 with an AUC of 0.864. The histogram parameters differentiated 4/6 pairs of subtype pairs. Significant correlations were identified between Ki-67 and histogram parameters of T1 (C90, mean) and ADC (C10, kurtosis, variance). Conclusion T1 and ADC histogram parameters may represent an in vivo biomarker for predicting the grade, subtype, and proliferative activity of meningioma. Key Points • The histogram parameter based on T1 mapping and DWI is useful to preoperatively evaluate the grade, subtype, and proliferative activity of meningioma. • The combination of T1 C90 and ADC C10 showed the best performance for differentiating low- and high-grade meningiomas.