Amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) CEST MRI in clinical routine for single time point diagnosis of pseudoprogression in IDH-wildtype glioblastoma.
Authors
Affiliations (12)
Affiliations (12)
- Department of Neurooncology, Centers for Neurology and Integrated Oncology (CIO), University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Radiology, Brigham and Womeńs Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
- Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- German Center for neurodegenerative diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
- Department of Vascular Neurology, Center for Neurology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Institute of Experimental Oncology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Philips Research, Hamburg, Germany.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Abstract
Differentiating progressive disease (PD) from treatment-related effects (TRE) in glioblastoma remains challenging, particularly at single time point evaluations. TRE can occur at any disease stage, and its underlying biology is poorly understood. This study evaluates the clinical feasibility and diagnostic performance of amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI in this challenge. Following the integration of APTw MRI into the routine clinical workflow for brain tumor imaging, we screened a total of 870 scans from 626 patients. APTw signal (voxel-based measurement) was automatically quantified in gadolinium-enhanced T1w and FLAIR regions of interest using a deep learning-based approach for 3D tumor segmentations. PD and TRE were compared using unpaired t-tests, and diagnostic accuracy was assessed via ROC- and logistic regression analysis. Among 256 MRI scans of 143 patients with glioblastoma, 65 scans showed PD (n = 42) or TRE (n = 23). The median APTw signal was higher in PD (2.23%) vs TRE (1.76%; p = 0.001). ROC analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.82. In patients with early PD or TRE (<6 months post-radiotherapy), the AUC increased to 0.93. Anti-angiogenic therapy decreased APTw signal (p < 0.01). Combining APTw MRI with DWI and PWI improved diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.90). APTw MRI is a non-invasive imaging tool that is feasible for clinical routine and aids in differentiation of early progression from pseudoprogression in glioblastoma. Its diagnostic accuracy decreases with application of anti-angiogenic treatment and at later follow-up time points. Highest diagnostic accuracy was found in a multimodal approach combining APTw MRI, PWI and DWI.