Correlation between MRI findings and histological diagnosis of brainstem glioma

Abstract

Objective To compare the MRI characteristics with histopathological findings of brainstem glioma and identify the characteristics associated with the diagnosis of pathologies. Methods From January 2002 to January 2012, 150 patients was diagnosed as brainstem gliomas by MRI and received operations in Beijing Tiantan Hospital. All the MRI and histopathological findings of these patients were respectively reviewed. Results One hundred and eight patients were low-grade glioma (72.0%), and 35 high-grade (23.3%). The accuracy of the MRI diagnosis for brainstem glioma was 95.3%. The data analysis of the MRI findings revealed that in not only the intrinsic (P=0.005) but also the exophytic (P=0.001) brainstem glioma patients, having a focal lesion was a significant factor associated with a more favorable histopathological diagnosis. In the intrinsic diffuse type, tumors without enhancement had the better pathologies (P=0.009). There was no significant difference of the histopathological diagnosis between the adults and children in not only the intrinsic (P=0.624) but also the exophytic (P=0.771) brainstem glioma. Conclusions The results of this study could help us to estimate the pathology with data obtained from MRI and help to obviate the need for invasive biopsy. The pathology of tumors with a focal appearance was better than their diffuse counterparts. For the intrinsic diffuse type, tumors with nonenhancement might have a better pathology. The different growth pattern and invasiveness of brainstem glioma between children and adult could be due to the different host cellular environments between the two age groups. Key words: Brain stem neoplasms; Glioma; Magnetic resonance imaging; Pathology