Abstract #2208

Interpreting Fractional Anisotropy in Gliomas: Correlation with 1H Spectroscopy and Consideration of SNR

Franklyn Arron Howe¹, Tom R. Barrick², Greg A. Fellows³, Alan J. Wright⁴

¹Cardiac & Vascular Sciences , St George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom; ²Clinical Neuroscience, St George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom; ³Academic Neurosurgery, St George's, University of London, London; ⁴Radiology, UMC st. Radboud University Hospital, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Metabolic information from 1H MRSI may aid image segmentation using DTI and so improve delineation of infiltrative brain tumours such as gliomas. NAA and fractional anisotropy (FA) are expected to decrease with tumour infiltration and loss of neuronal structure, but FA calculated from principal diffusion magnitude images is biased due to the contribution of noise. We have investigated the FA and NAA distribution in glioblastomas in comparison to simulated data that takes into account the effect of SNR on the measurement of low FA values. Our data provides evidence for diffusion anisotropy in glioblastomas in the absence of functional neurones.