Differentiation of Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma and High-Grade Glioma with Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-Derived Metrics: Pilot Study.

Objective: Preoperative differentiation of lymphoma from other aggressive intracranial neoplasms is important as the surgical and adjuvant therapy may be fundamentally different between the 2 types of tumors. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of the dynamic susceptibility contrast-derived metrics, percentage signal recovery (PSR) ratio, and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) to distinguish between primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) and high-grade glioma (HGG).

Methods: Twenty-six patients (15 with HGG and 11 with PCNSL) with histologically confirmed diagnoses were retrospectively analyzed. Mean PSR and rCBV were calculated from dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging. The 2 groups were compared using an independent samples t-test. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to determine the area under the curve and identify threshold values to differentiate PCNSL from GBM.

Results: Both rCBV and PSR values were significantly different, at both the group level and subject level, between the PCNSL and HGG patients. The mean rCBV was significantly lower in PCNSL (1.38 ± 0.64) compared with HGG (5.19 ± 2.21, df = 11.24, P < 0.001). The mean PSR ratio was significantly higher in PCNSL (1.04 ± 0.11) compared with HGG (0.72 ± 0.16, df = 17.23, P < 0.001). An rCBV threshold value of 2.67 provided a 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity (area under the curve 1.0) for differentiating PCNSL from HGG. A PSR ratio threshold value of 0.9 was 100% sensitive and 90.91% specific for differentiating PCNSL from HGG.

Conclusions: The findings of our study show that rCBV and PSR ratio are different in HGG and PCNSL at both the group level and subject level. Incorporation of perfusion in routine magnetic resonance imaging of contrast-enhancing lesions can have a significant impact on patient management.