Motivation: Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) is closely correlated with the poor prognosis of high-grade glioma (HGG). There remains a need for developing preoperative noninvasive biomarkers to assess the ITH and prognosis. Habitat imaging has shown promising potential in this regard. Goal(s): To utilize habitat analysis based on intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM)-MRI to explore imaging markers that predict overall survival (OS) for HGG patients. Approach: Clustering voxels from IVIM-MRI parametric maps to generate spatial subregions, followed by analyzing the relationship between quantitative image features and patient survival. Results: Habitat analysis derived from IVIM-MRI is an effective tool for predicting the prognosis of HGG patients. Impact: Preoperative perfusion and diffusion heterogeneity identified by habitat analysis from IVIM-MRI were associated with the OS of HGG patients. The specific tumor subregion with prognostic value may help to refine the understanding of glioma ITH and contribute to future treatments.
Wang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.