Prognostic value of preoperative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI perfusion parameters for high-grade glioma patients

Introduction The prognostic value of the dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI perfusion and its histogram analysis-derived metrics is not well established for high-grade glioma (HGG) patients. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate DCE perfusion transfer coefficient (K trans ), vascular plasma volume fraction (v p ), extracellular volume fraction (v e ), reverse transfer constant (k ep ), and initial area under gadolinium concentration time curve (IAUGC) as predictors of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in HGG patients. Methods Sixty-nine patients with suspected anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma underwent preoperative DCE-MRI scans. DCE perfusion whole tumor region histogram parameters, clinical details, and PFS and OS data were obtained. Univariate, multivariate, and Kaplan–Meier survival analyses were conducted. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was employed to identify perfusion parameters with the best differentiation performance. Results On univariate analysis, v e and skewness of v p had significant negative impacts, while k ep had significant positive impact on OS ( P