Fluid suppressed amide proton transfer weighted imaging for distinguishing true progression from treatment response in post-treatment gliomas

Motivation: Distinguishing tumor progression from treatment response, following brain tumor therapy remains a major clinical challenge. Goal(s): To assess the diagnostic performance of fluid suppressed amide proton transfer-weighted (FS-APTW) imaging in distinguishing true progression from treatment response with post-treatment gliomas. Approach: We conducted APTW and FS-APTW imaging on 66 patients with post-treatment gliomas. The APTWmean and FS-APTWmean signals were obtained from enhanced lesions and peritumoral edema for each patient and compared between the true progression and treatment response groups. Results: The FS-APTW signal is a valuable imaging biomarker for distinguishing treatment response from true progression in post-treatment gliomas. Impact: FS-APTW imaging offers a more specific characterization of true progression versus treatment response in post-treatment gliomas than APTW imaging.