Perfusion MRI-based differentiation between early tumor progression and pseudoprogression in glioblastoma and its use in clinical practice.

Background: Early treatment effects in patients with glioblastoma are frequently discussed during multidisciplinary team meetings (MDTM), after which a decision regarding (dis)continuation of tumor-targeted treatment is made. This study examined whether a separate and systematic evaluation of perfusion MRI (pMRI) could impact such treatment decisions in the early stage.

Methods: This retrospective observational study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy for detecting early tumor progression of 4 different approaches including conventional MRI, pMRI with Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL), and/or Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast (DSC) MRI, and compared those to the MDTM evaluation in clinical practice.

Results: Sixty-five glioblastoma patients with clinical and radiological data until 9 months after irradiation were included. For all approaches, the sensitivity for detecting early true disease progression was poor to moderate (32%-62%). Area under the curve values were comparable (range 0.63-0.74), but highest for the MDTM evaluation (0.74). In the cases of inconclusive MDTM (26%), systematic pMRI evaluation showed a higher sensitivity compared to conventional MRI (respectively, 36% vs 0%), while the specificity was 100% for all MRI approaches. Multivariable regression analysis showed that a lower KPS score (OR = 0.84 [95% CI: 0.77-0.91]) and pMRI indicative of tumor progression (OR = 0.09 [95% CI: 0.02-0.52]) were independently associated with concluding tumor progression at the MDTM.

Conclusion: MDTM assessment in daily clinical practice has a higher diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing early tumor progression from pseudoprogression compared to a separate, systematic evaluation of pMRI. Systematic evaluation of pMRI might be helpful if the clinical MDTM assessment is uncertain.