Prognostic value of blood flow estimated by arterial spin labeling and dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced MR imaging in high-grade gliomas

Several studies evaluated the predictive value of dynamic susceptibility contrast enhanced (DSC) imaging and arterial spin labeling (ASL) with regard to histological grade. Yet still less is known about their significance in terms of patients prognosis. Our purpose was to evaluate the agreement between them and the prognostic value of ASL- and DSC-CBF measurements for time-to-recurrence (TTR). Sixty nine cases of WHO Grade 3–4 gliomas underwent both DSC- and ASL-MRI. Normalized ASL and DSC-based cerebral blood flow (CBF) maps as well as DSC-derived cerebral blood volume maps (CBV) were analyzed. Wilcoxon test and Bland–Altman plot analysis were applied in order to compare DSC-rCBF and ASL-rCBF. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were determined for all perfusion parameters. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and survival curve analyses were performed. The median values of ASL-rCBF, DSC-rCBF, and DSC-rCBV were 5.3, 6.9, and 8.0, respectively. There was neither significant correlation nor difference between ASL-rCBF and DSC-rCBF. Slight proportional bias was demonstrated in the Bland–Altman plot analysis of ASL-rCBF and DSC-rCBF values. Unlikely to DSC-rCBV, DSC- and ASL-based rCBF parameters demonstrated moderate sensitivity and specifitity for tumor recurrence but no statistical significance regarding their prognostic values for TTR in the Kaplan–Meier analysis. There were neither correlation nor interchangeability between the DSC-rCBF and ASL-rCBF estimations, which demonstrated comparable, though not significant prognostic value for the prediction of TTR. rCBV measurements seem to provide the best sensitivity and specificity to predict tumor recurrence and survival time in these patients.