Diffusion tensor imaging on a 1.5T MR-Linac and comparison to a 3T diagnostic scanner in glioma patients

Diffusion tensor imaging was implemented on a 1.5T MR-Linac and used to scan ten glioma patients and four healthy volunteers. Mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy (FA) measurements were compared to those at 3T in 35 glioma patients. FA values surrounding the tumour and in white matter structures (genu, splenium, and body of corpus callosum) were investigated for the detection of tumour infiltration and radiation-induced damage, respectively. There was no evidence of dose-dependent white matter changes, in contrast to previous literature. Peritumoural FA changes occurred more frequently for high-grade compared to low-grade gliomas.