ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical significance of diffusion tensor imaging of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of cerebral gliomas. Methods Diffusion tensor images were obtained in 23 patients with cerebral gliomas,meanwhile the routing T1-weighted(T1W) ,T2-weighted(T2W) ,contrast-enhanced T1W imaging, FLAIR imaging and diffusion tensor of the brain were acquired. Anatomic relationship between intracranial tumors and surrounding fibers was analyzed on fractional anisotropic(FA) map,color-coded directional map,three-dimensional white matter tractography. Results White matter fiber anatomy maps of the brain by means of FA maps of DTI at high resolution were successfully completed in all patients. The white matter tracts appeared as strongly hyperintense signal,while the grey matter presented an isointense area in contrast to the strongly hypointense signal of the CSF. Glioma boundaries were less sharper than on contrast-enhanced T1W images,but delineation could still be easily seen as hypointense lesion on FA map. The principal fiber tracts were well observed in all cases, including the tracts nearby the lesions. Apparently significant differences of MD were found in solid tumor,surrounding edema,compared with normal white matter regions(P ＜0.05). But there was no significant difference among solid tumor and surrounding edema region(P＞0. 05). There were significant differences of FA between solid tumor,surrounding edema and normal white matter region (P ＜0. 05). Conclusion The FA map of DTI offered the optimal visualization of white matter tracts. The combination of the DTI and other conventional MRI could accurately determine the tumor and surrounding proximity to the white matter fiber tracts in the diagnosis of cerebral glioma.