ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: BT-RADS is a new framework system for reporting the treatment response of brain tumors. The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic performance and reliability of the BT-RADS in predicting the recurrence of high-grade glioma (HGG). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective single-center study recruited 81 cases with previously operated and pathologically proven HGG. The patients underwent baseline and follow-up contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI). Two neuro-radiologists with ten years-experience in neuroimaging independently analyzed and interpreted the MRI images and assigned a BT-RADS category for each case. To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the BT-RADS for detecting recurrent HGG, the reference standard was the histopathology for BT-RADS categories 3 and 4, while neurological clinical examination and clinical follow up were used as a reference for BT-RADS categories 1 and 2. The inter-reader agreement was assessed using the Cohen's Kappa test. RESULTS: The study included 81 cases of HGG, of which 42 were recurrent and 39 were non-recurrent HGG cases based on the reference test. BT-RADS 3B was the best cutoff for predicting recurrent HGG with a sensitivity of 90.5 % to 92.9 %, specificity of 76.9 % to 84.6 %, and accuracy of 83.9 % to 88.9 %, based on both readers. The BT-RADS showed a substantial inter-reader agreement with a K of 0.710 (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The BT-RADS is a valid and reliable framework for predicting recurrent HGG. Moreover, BT-RADS can help neuro-oncologists make clinical decisions that can potentially improve the patient's outcome.
Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms , Glioma , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local , Humans , Glioma/diagnostic imaging , Glioma/pathology , Glioma/therapy , Female , Male , Brain Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Brain Neoplasms/pathology , Brain Neoplasms/therapy , Middle Aged , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnostic imaging , Prospective Studies , Adult , Aged , Sensitivity and Specificity , Contrast Media , Neoplasm GradingABSTRACT
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To propose a combined computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based classification system in the management of COVID-19-associated rhino-orbito-cerebral (C-ROC) fungal infection and to assess the reliability of such proposed staging system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multi-center prospective study conducted on 122 adults with previously confirmed COVID-19 infection. CT and contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) were performed for all patients. Three radiologists (with experience of 8, 10, and 14 years) independently assessed all images. Then, each patient was assigned a radiological stage based on the five stages of the proposed system according to the radiological extent of the fungal infection. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) test assessed the inter-rater agreement. Based on the pathological evaluation of post-operative specimens, a diagnosis of fungal infection was documented. RESULTS: The most prevalent severity stage among all raters was stage IV in 29.5-31.1% patients. The overall inter-rater agreement of the proposed staging system was excellent (ICC 0.971, 95% CI;0.960-0.979). Moreover, the most common detected pathogen was Mucormycosis (n = 87, 71.3%). Furthermore, there was a statistically significant association between the patients' outcome and the severity stage (P value 0.001) and there was no statistically significant association between ethmoid and sphenoid sinus affection and cranial extension (P value 0.081). CONCLUSION: Our proposed combined CT and MRI severity staging system has a high inter-rater agreement. Moreover, it can aid in the early detection of the C-ROC fungal infection, improve preoperative planning, and subsequently improve the patient's outcome.
