Is There a Relationship between the Elasticity of Brain Tumors, Changes in Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and Histological Findings? A Pilot Study Using Intraoperative Ultrasound Elastography

Intraoperative ultrasound elastography (IOUS-E) is a novel image modality applied in brain tumor assessment. However, the potential links between elastographic findings and other histological and neuroimaging features are unknown. This study aims to find associations between brain tumor elasticity, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics, and cell proliferation. A retrospective study was conducted to analyze consecutively admitted patients who underwent craniotomy for supratentorial brain tumors between March 2018 and February 2020. Patients evaluated by IOUS-E and preoperative DTI were included. A semi-quantitative analysis was performed to calculate the mean tissue elasticity (MTE). Diffusion coefficients and the tumor proliferation index by Ki-67 were registered. Relationships between the continuous variables were determined using the Spearman ρ test. A predictive model was developed based on non-linear regression using the MTE as the dependent variable. Forty patients were evaluated. The pathologic diagnoses were as follows: 21 high-grade gliomas (HGG); 9 low-grade gliomas (LGG); and 10 meningiomas. Cases with a proliferation index of less than 10% had significantly higher medians of MTE (110.34 vs. 79.99, p < 0.001) and fractional anisotropy (FA) (0.24 vs. 0.19, p = 0.020). We found a strong positive correlation between MTE and FA (r(s) (38) = 0.91, p < 0.001). A cubic spline non-linear regression model was obtained to predict tumoral MTE from FA (R(2) = 0.78, p < 0.001). According to our results, tumor elasticity is associated with histopathological and DTI-derived metrics. These findings support the usefulness of IOUS-E as a complementary tool in brain tumor surgery.