Perilesional apparent diffusion coefficient in the preoperative evaluation of glioma grade

Abstract Preoperative identification of high-grade gliomas is critical to optimize treatment strategy and to predict prognosis. To determine whether perilesional apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values differ between high- and low-grade tumors, we assessed water diffusivity within normal-appearing brain parenchyma (NABP) surrounding gliomas in twenty-one treatment-naive patients. This showed significantly lower mean and 25th percentile (Q1) ADC values in high- grade compared to low-grade gliomas respectively in the range of 10–25 and 10–30 mm away from combined tumor and surrounding T2 signal. Thus, perilesional ADC measurement may reflect the extent of tumor infiltration beyond the abnormality seen on conventional MRI.