Survival analysis for apparent diffusion coefficient measures in children with embryonal brain tumours

Embryonal brain tumors constitute a large and important subgroup of pediatric brain tumors. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measures have been previously used in the analysis of these tumors. We investigated a newly described ADC-derived parameter, the apparent transient coefficient in tumor (ATCT), a measure of the gradient change of ADC from the peri-tumoral edema into the tumor core, to study whether ATCT correlates with survival outcome. Sixty-one patients with histologically proven embryonal brain tumors and who had diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) as part of their clinical imaging were enrolled in a retrospective study correlating ADC measures with survival. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed for extent of surgical resection, age