Time-dependent Diffusion in Extra-Axial Brain Tumors Investigated with Oscillating-gradient Spin-echo.

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to investigate the utility of changes in diffusivity between short and long effective diffusion times (Δ eff ) in distinguishing extra-axial brain tumors. Patients with 12 meningiomas, 13 acoustic neuromas, and 11 pituitary adenomas were undergoing diffusion-weighted imaging with Δ eff of 6.5 ms and 35.2 ms. The dependence of λ1, λ2, λ3, and MD values on Δ eff was stronger in pituitary adenomas than in meningiomas and acoustic neuroma, suggesting differences in internal tissue structure. Our results showed that the use of DTI with shorter Δ eff provides additional information about the microstructure of brain tumors.