LAUSR

Objective The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) gradient in the peritumoral brain zone (PBZ)—the difference in the rCBV values from the area closest to the enhancing lesion to the area closest to the healthy white matter—in differentiating glioblastoma (GB) from solitary brain metastasis (MET). Methods A 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine was used to perform dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion MRI (DSC-MRI) on 43 patients with a solitary brain tumor (24 GB, 19 MET). The rCBV ratios were acquired by DSC-MRI data in 3 regions of the PBZ (near the enhancing tumor, G1; intermediate distance from the enhancing tumor, G2; far from the enhancing tumor, G3). The maximum rCBV ratios in the PBZ (rCBVp) and the enhancing tumor were also calculated, respectively. The perfusion parameters were evaluated using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were identified. Results The rCBVp ratios and rCBV gradient in the PBZ were significantly higher in GB compared with MET (P < 0.05 for both rCBVp ratios and rCBV gradient). The threshold values of 0.50 or greater for rCBVp ratios provide sensitivity and specificity of 57.69% and 79.17%, respectively, for differentiation of GB from MET. Compared with rCBVp ratios, rCBV gradient had higher sensitivity (94.44%) and specificity (91.67%) using the threshold value of greater than 0.06. Conclusions The parameter of rCBV gradient derived from DSC-MRI in the PBZ seems to be the most efficient parameter to differentiate GB from METs.