LAUSR

Abstract BACKGROUND Pediatric GBMs are rare, accounting for 3% of all pediatric CNS tumors. Despite advances in treatment, the outcomes for pediatric glioblastomas (GBM) have not significantly improved. Research suggests a link between enhancement patterns and survival in adult patients with glial tumors. We sought to study this relationship in a cohort of pediatric GBMs. METHODS A radiology database was searched for cases < 22 years, pathology proven brain glioblastoma, and pre-surgical MR imaging available for review. Based on pre-treatment, T1-contrast enhanced MR images, size, and contrast enhancement patterns were characterized as focal, diffuse, or ring-like. The extent of resection was assessed by comparing pre- and post-surgery T2 hyperintensity and contrast enhancement. RESULTS 64 eligible patients (age 2-21y, 14.6 + 5.4) were identified. The majority of lesions demonstrated enhancement on gadolinium-enhanced T1 imaging. (n=58/64; 90%). The lesions were categorized into six (9.4%) cases with focal enhancement, 37 (57.8%) cases with diffuse enhancement, and 15 (23.4%) with ring-like enhancement. Patients who received GTR/subtotal resection (STR) and had focal-enhanced GBMs had a significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) – 14.1 months (p = 0.0308), comparing to diffuse and ring-like enhancing glioblastomas which had respectively 13.9 and 5.5 months of PFS. DISCUSSION Our data suggests that the contrast enhancement pattern is a significant prognostic factor for survival in pediatric GBM. Patients with GTR/STR who had focal-enhancing GBMs had a significantly longer progression-free survival (p=0.03) comparing to other enhancement patterns.