Fiber-tract localized diffusion coefficients highlight patterns of white matter disruption induced by proximity to glioma

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 11; p. e0225323
• Main Authors: D'Souza, Shawn, Ormond, D Ryan, Costabile, Jamie, Thompson, John A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 21.11.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Alzheimer's disease; Anisotropy; Biology and Life Sciences; Biopsy; Brain cancer; Brain tumors; Cancer metastasis; Central nervous system; Coefficients; Degradation; Diffusion; Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Disruption; Female; Fibers; Glioma; Glioma - diagnostic imaging; Glioma - pathology; Gliomas; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Integrity; Localization; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metastases; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Grading; Neoplasm Staging; Nervous system tumors; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; Novels; Patients; Physical Sciences; Pyramidal tracts; Research and Analysis Methods; Substantia alba; Tensors; Tumors; White Matter - diagnostic imaging; White Matter - pathology; Young Adult; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225323

Gliomas account for 26.5% of all primary central nervous system tumors. Recent studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to extract white matter fibers and the diffusion coefficients derived from MR processing to provide useful, non-invasive insights into the extent of tumor invasion, axonal integrity, and gross differentiation of glioma from metastasis. Here, we extend this work by examining whether a tract-based analysis can improve non-invasive localization of tumor impact on white matter integrity. This study retrospectively analyzed preoperative magnetic resonance sequences highlighting contrast enhancement and DTI scans of 13 subjects that were biopsy-confirmed to have either high or low-grade glioma. We reconstructed the corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus by applying atlas-based regions of interest to fibers derived from whole-brain deterministic streamline tractography. Within-subject comparison of hemispheric diffusion coefficients (e.g., fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity) indicated higher levels of white matter degradation in the ipsilesional hemisphere. Novel application of along-tract analyses revealed that tracts traversing the tumor region showed significant white matter degradation compared to the contralesional hemisphere and ipsilesional tracts displaced by the tumor.