Ki67 Index Correlates with Tumoral Volumetry and 5-ALA Residual Fluorescence in Glioblastoma

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

BackgroundMalignant gliomas are the most prevalent primary malignant cerebral tumors. Preoperative imaging plays an important role, and the prognosis is closely related to surgical resection and histomolecular aspects. Our goal was to correlate Ki67 indexes with tumoral volumetry in semiautomatic segmentation on preoperative magnetic resonance images and residual fluorescence in a 5-ALA-assisted resection cohort. MethodsWe included eighty-six IDH-wildtype glioblastoma patients with complete preoperative imaging submitted to 5-ALA assisted resections. Clinical, surgical, and histomolecular findings were also obtained. Preoperative magnetic resonance studies were preprocessed and segmented semiautomatically on VISVA for whole tumor (WT) on 3D FLAIR, enhancing tumor (ET), and necrotic core (NC) on 3D post-gadolinium T1. We performed a linear regression analysis for Ki67 and a multivariate analysis for surgical outcomes. ResultsHigher Ki-67 indexes correlated positively with higher WT (p = 0.048) ET (p = 0.002). Lower Ki67 correlated with 5-ALA free margins (p = 0.045). WT and ET volumes correlated with the extent of resection (EOR; p = 0.002 and 0.002, respectively). Eloquence did not impact EOR (p = 0.14). ConclusionsThere is a correlation between Ki67, the metabolically active tumoral volumes (WT and ET), and 5-ALA residual fluorescence. Methodological inconsistencies are probably responsible for contradictory literature findings, and further prospective studies are needed to validate and reproduce these findings.