Diffusion tensor imaging in primary brain tumors: Reproducible quantitative analysis of corpus callosum infiltration and contralateral involvement using a probabilistic mixture model

Original article Abnormalities in the normal appearing white matter of the cerebral hemisphere contralateral to a malignant brain tumor detected by diffusion tensor imaging

“…In early stages, tumor infiltration leads to increased cellularity without destruction of neurons, and to neovascularization [29]. Diffusion tensor imaging metrics are sensitive to changes of fiber tract architecture on a microscopic level [26,34]. Glioma cells in the early invasion stages cause local displacement of parenchyma without neuronal damage [26], resulting in increased ADC values analogous to the characteristics of low-grade gliomas [7].…”

“…Several studies have reported the infiltrative growth of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells in apparently unaffected brain regions remote from the confirmed primary lesion [5,17,24,32] without correlating changes on computed tomographic or MR images [20,38]. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) [2,14,34] and localized proton MRS provided subtle hints towards remote infiltration of GBM cells [4,14,18]. This work investigated the use of DTI and corresponding metrics as putative indicators of the invasiveness of malignant brain tumors.…”

Reproducibility, Interrater Agreement, and Age-Related Changes of Fractional Anisotropy Measures at 3T in Healthy Subjects: Effect of the Applied b-Value

“…Initial evidence for use of this technique has been demonstrated in brain maturation and aging, in demyelinating disorders, in stroke, in brain tumors, and in brain trauma. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Because DTI is increasingly becoming included in standard clinical MR imaging protocols, the reliability of DTI measurements is an important concern that is related to the stability of the equipment parameters and examination conditions and, perhaps, even true variations in the measurements over time. Initial evidence showed more pronounced variability of FA across different scanners than across similar sequences on the same scanner.…”

“…10 Under the assumption of a stable examination environment, the next serious concern is the availability of normative data that are essential for the interpretation of pathologic findings. 8,11 Normative DTI data have been acquired for infants, children, and adolescents in a narrow, as well as in a wider, age interval. [12][13][14][15] The aforementioned studies are widely performed on 1.5T MR imaging scanners (whereas 3T systems are increasingly available) and use a voxelwise method for FA analysis.…”

Functional magnetic resonance imaging for defining the biological target volume

“…Thus, measures from diffusion weighted imaging, such as fractional anisotropy, can be used to assess fibre integrity and have been postulated as sensitive markers for overall tumour extent [11] ; however, research has so far been hampered by limitations in data analysis. Current research is evaluating the role of DTI in predicting tumour extent and shows promising initial results for improved tumour front delineation in patients with primary brain tumours [12] . …”