Ultra-high-field sodium MRI as biomarker for tumor extent, grade and IDH mutation status in glioma patients

PURPOSE: This prospective clinical trial investigated sodium ((23)Na) MRI at 7 Tesla (T) field strength as biomarker for tumor extent, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation and O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promotor methylation in glioma patients. METHODS: 28 glioma patients underwent (23)Na MRI on a 7T scanner (Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) parallel to standard 3T MRI before chemoradiation. Areas of Gadolinium-contrast enhancement (gdce), non-enhancing T2-hyperintensity (regarded as edema), necrosis, and normal-appearing white matter (nawm) were segmented on 3T MRI imaging and were co-registered with the (23)Na images. The median total (23)Na concentrations of all areas were compared by pairwise t-tests. Furthermore, areas of gdce and edema were merged to yield the whole tumor area without necrosis. Subsequently, the difference in median of the (23)Na concentration of this whole tumor area was compared between IDH-mutated and IDH wild-type gliomas as well as MGMT methylated and MGMT not-methylated glioblastomas using Whitney-Mann U-tests. All p-values were corrected after the Bonferroni-Holm procedure. RESULTS: The (23)Na concentration increased successively from nawm to necrotic areas (mean ± sd: nawm = 37.84 ± 5.87 mM, edema = 54.69 ± 10.64 mM, gdce = 61.72 ± 12.95 mM, necrosis = 81.88 ± 17.53 mM) and the concentrations differed statistically significantly between all regarded areas (adjusted p-values for all pairwise comparisons < 0.05). Furthermore, IDH-mutated gliomas showed significantly higher (23)Na concentrations than IDH wild-type gliomas (median [interquartile range]: IDH wild-type = 52.37 mM [45.98 – 58.56 mM], IDH mutated = 65.02 mM [58.87–67.05 mM], p = 0.039). Among the glioblastomas, there was a trend towards increased (23)Na concentration in MGMT methylated tumors that did not reach statistical significance (median [interquartile range]: MGMT methylated = 57.59 mM [50.70 – 59.17 mM], MGMT not methylated = 48.78 mM [45.88 – 53.91 mM], p = 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: (23)Na MRI correlates with the IDH mutation status and could therefore enhance image guidance towards biopsy sites as wells as image-guided surgery and radiotherapy. Furthermore, the successive decrease of (23)Na concentration from central necrosis to normal-appearing white matter suggests a correlation with tumor infiltration.