title: Alterations in fiber pathways reveal brain tumor typology: a diffusion tractography study.
abstract: Conventional structural Magnetic Resonance (MR) techniques can accurately identify brain tumors but do not provide exhaustive information about the integrity of the surrounding/embedded white matter (WM). In this study, we used Diffusion-Weighted (DW) MRI tractography to explore tumor-induced alterations of WM architecture without any a priori knowledge about the fiber paths under consideration. We used deterministic multi-fiber tractography to analyze 16 cases of histologically classified brain tumors (meningioma, low-grade glioma, high-grade glioma) to evaluate the integrity of WM bundles in the tumoral region, in relation to the contralateral unaffected hemisphere. Our new tractographic approach yielded measures of WM involvement which were strongly correlated with the histopathological features of the tumor (r = 0.83, p = 0.0001). In particular, the number of affected fiber tracts were significantly (p = 0.0006) different among tumor types. Our method proposes a new application of diffusion tractography for the detection of tumor aggressiveness in those cases in which the lesion does not involve any major/known WM paths and when a priori information about the local fiber anatomy is lacking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Genoa , Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campanella
authors.affiliation: Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Genoa , Italy ; Department of Neurosurgery, Az. Ospedaliero-Universitaria Santa Maria della Misericordia , Udine , Italy.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ius
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Az. Ospedaliero-Universitaria Santa Maria della Misericordia , Udine , Italy.
authors.forename: Miran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skrap
authors.affiliation: Department of Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia , Genoa , Italy ; Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara , Italy.
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fadiga
keywords: Brain tumor; Fiber tractography; White matter