Contributions of new MRI techniques to brain tumor diagnosis. University Hospital experience.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred imaging technique for central nervous system tumor analysis. A great variety of tumors can be found in the brain and establishing a definitive diagnosis is a difficult task that often requires a multidisciplinary approach. The impact of MRI was initially very significant, and the many technological advances in recent years have improved its diagnostic performance.
In Uruguay functional MRI techniques were introduced during the last four years. The University Hospital is one of the places with more experience.
With the aim of highlighting the role of functional MRI techniques we retrospectively analyzed the findings in 250 patients with suspected central nervous system tumors studied with an institutional protocol that includes classic and functional sequences: diffusion and tractography, perfusion and spectroscopy. A total of 250 patients had a definitive tumor, 233 were intra-axial lesions, mostly high-grade gliomas, metastases and lymphomas, with an overall sensitivity that exceeded 95% in the analysis, and 27 were extra-axial lesions.

While each method has its particular use, their complementary contributions result in an overall increase in sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis. Therefore they are considered essential in the diagnostic process o these patients.