ArticleNeuro-oncology practice2025
Improved diagnostic accuracy for leptomeningeal dissemination in pediatric brain tumors using contrast-enhanced FLAIR imaging.
Article in Neuro-oncology practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Practical guidelines on imaging of retinoblastoma: a 2025 update on behalf of the European Retinoblastoma Imaging Collaboration and the European Retinoblastoma Group.European radiology · 2026Guideline
- Pooled it
- The value of cerebrospinal fluid cytology in the diagnosis of atypical medulloblastoma: a case report and review of the literature.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Central nervous system cancers are a leading cause of childhood cancer-related mortality. Accurate staging and assessment of leptomeningeal spread, particularly in aggressive neoplasms such as embryonal tumors, is crucial for treatment planning and prognosis. Conventional diagnostic methods, relying on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology, have limitations, including high false-negative rates and sensitivity issues. In this retrospective study, we aim to compare the diagnostic sensitivity of contrast-enhanced T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (CE-T2W-FLAIR) and 2D and 3D contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI) for detecting leptomeningeal disease. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1372 MRI brain studies of 297 patients aged 1-19 years. We included only those MRI examinations adhering to our neuro-oncology protocol while excluding incomplete or suboptimal studies. A control group without leptomeningeal disease was matched for disease and age. Three groups of 2 neuroradiologists each, blinded to case status, reviewed the images using various sequences. The results were compared using the McNemar test and chi-squared test for Results: The sensitivity of CE-T2W-FLAIR sequence was significantly higher compared with that of CE-T1WI ( Conclusions: The inclusion of CE-T2W-FLAIR in the MRI protocol improves sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing leptomeningeal spread in pediatric brain tumors.
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