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Role of susceptibility-weighted imaging and intratumoral susceptibility signals in grading and differentiating pediatric brain tumors at 1.5 T: a preliminary study

  • Paediatric Neuroradiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is useful for glioma grading and discriminating between brain tumor categories in adults, but its diagnostic value for pediatric brain tumors is unclear. Here we evaluated the usefulness of SWI for pediatric tumor grading and differentiation by assessing intratumoral susceptibility signal intensity (ITSS).

Methods

We retrospectively enrolled 96 children with histopathologically diagnosed brain tumors, who underwent routine brain MRI exam with SWI (1.5 T scanner). Each tumor was assigned an ITSS score by a radiology resident and an experienced neuroradiologist, and subsequently by consensus. Statistical analyses were performed to differentiate between low-grade (LG) and high-grade (HG) tumors, histological categories, and tumor locations. Inter-reader agreement was assessed using Cohen’s kappa (κ).

Results

The interobserver agreement was 0.844 (0.953 between first reader and consensus, and 0.890 between second reader and consensus). Among all tumors, we found a statistically significant difference between LG and HG for ITSS scores of 0 and 2 (p = 0.002). This correlation was weaker among astrocytomas alone, and became significant when considering only off-midline astrocytomas (p = 0.05). Scores of 0 and 2 were a strong discriminating factor (p = 0.001) for astrocytomas (score 0) and for embryonal, choroid plexus, germ-cell, pineal, and ependymoma tumors (score 2). No medulloblastoma showed a score of 0.

Conclusions

Our preliminary ITTS results in pediatric brain tumors somewhat differed from those obtained in adult populations. These findings highlight the potential valuable role of ITSS for tumor grading and discriminating between some tumor categories in the pediatric population.

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Funding

No funding was received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UOC Radiodiagnostica e Neuroradiologia, Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia, Oncologia ed Ematologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Simona Gaudino, Giammaria Marziali, Pamela Guadalupi, Carolina Giordano, Massimo Benenati, Antonia Ramaglia & Cesare Colosimo

  2. Istituto di Radiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

    Giammaria Marziali, Pamela Guadalupi, Carolina Giordano, Massimo Benenati, Antonia Ramaglia & Cesare Colosimo

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Avanzate, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples, Italy

    Giovanna Pezzullo

  4. Dipartimento di diagnostica per immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica e Ematologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Amato Infante

  5. Pediatric Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery Department, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Luca Massimi, Paolo Frassanito & Massimo Caldarelli

  6. Istituto di Neurochirurgia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

    Luca Massimi & Massimo Caldarelli

  7. Neuropathology Unit, Division Of Pathology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

    Marco Gessi

Authors
  1. Simona Gaudino
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  2. Giammaria Marziali
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  3. Giovanna Pezzullo
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  4. Pamela Guadalupi
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  5. Carolina Giordano
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  6. Amato Infante
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  7. Massimo Benenati
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  8. Antonia Ramaglia
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  9. Luca Massimi
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  10. Marco Gessi
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  11. Paolo Frassanito
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  12. Massimo Caldarelli
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  13. Cesare Colosimo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simona Gaudino.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Gaudino, S., Marziali, G., Pezzullo, G. et al. Role of susceptibility-weighted imaging and intratumoral susceptibility signals in grading and differentiating pediatric brain tumors at 1.5 T: a preliminary study. Neuroradiology 62, 705–713 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-020-02386-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-020-02386-z

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