Grading of Glioma: combined diagnostic value of amide proton transfer weighted, arterial spin labeling and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract Background To investigate the ability of amide proton transfer (APT) weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and the combination for differentiating high-grade gliomas (HGGs) from low-grade gliomas (LGGs). Methods Twenty-seven patients including nine LGGs and eighteen HGGs underwent conventional, APT, ASL and DWI MRI with a 3.0-T MR scanner. Histogram analyses was performed and quantitative parameters including mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC mean), 20th-percentile ADC (ADC 20th), mean APT (APT mean), 90th-percentile APT (APT 90th), relative mean cerebral blood flow (rCBF mean) and relative 90th-percentile CBF (rCBF 90th) were compared between HGGs and LGGs. The diagnostic performance was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of each parameter and their combination. Correlations were analyzed among the MRI parameters and Ki-67. Results The APT values were significantly higher in the HGGs compared to the LGGs (p <  0.005), whereas ADC values were significantly lower in HGGs than LGGs (P <  0.0001). The ADC 20th and APT mean had higher discrimination abilities compared with other single parameters, with the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.877 and 0.840. Adding ADC parameter, the discrimination ability of APT and rCBF significantly improved. The ADC was negatively correlated with the APT and rCBF value, respectively, while APT value was positively correlated with rCBF value. Significant correlations between ADC values and Ki-67 were also observed. Conclusions APT and DWI are valuable in differentiating HGGs from LGGs. The combination of APT, DWI and ASL imaging could improve the ability for discriminating HGGs from LGGs.