Determination of Meningiomas Consistency by Histogram Analysis of Different Models of Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging

The consistency of Intracranial tumors is crucial to determine the required surgical instruments as well as affecting the outcome of surgery, but no specific feature of conventional MRI is reliable in predicting the consistency of tumors. Histogram analysis of diffusion parameters has been successfully used in predicting the grade, subtype, and proliferative activity of meningiomas. This study prospectively evaluated and compared the potential of various diffusion metrics obtained from the mono-exponential model (MEM), bi-exponential model (BEM), and stretched exponential model (SEM)-based diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in predicting consistency of meningiomas. It was found that different models of DWI (MEM, BEM, and SEM) are useful in the differentiation between soft and hard meningiomas. However, Alpha obtained from SEM and fast-ADC from BEM are more promising diffusion parameters for predicting the consistency of meningiomas.