Wide Range of Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Gliomatosis Cerebri Growth Pattern: A Clinical, Radiographic, and Histopathologic Study

Background The 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Central Nervous System Tumors categorizes gliomatosis cerebri growth pattern (GC) as a subgroup of diffuse infiltrating gliomas, defined by extent of brain involvement on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Clinical and radiographic features in GC patients are highly heterogeneous; however, prognosis has historically been considered poor. Subjects, Materials, and Methods We performed a retrospective search for patients at our institution meeting radiographic criteria of primary, type I GC (defined as diffuse tumor infiltration without associated tumor mass and contrast enhancement on MRI) and analyzed their clinical, imaging, and histopathologic features. Results A total of 34 patients met radiographic criteria of primary, type I GC, and 33 had a confirmed histologic diagnosis of an infiltrating glial neoplasm. Age >47 years at diagnosis was associated with worse overall survival (OS) compared with age <= 47 years (hazard ratio [HR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.07, p = .003). Patients with grade 2 tumors demonstrated a trend for improved OS compared with those with grade 3 tumors (HR 2.65, 95% CI 0.99-7.08, p = .051). Except for brainstem involvement, extent or location of radiographic involvement did not detectably affect clinical outcome. IDH mutation status identified a subgroup of GC patients with particularly long survival up to 25 years and was associated with longer time to progression (HR 4.81, 95% CI 0.99-23.47, p = .052). Conclusion Patients with primary, type I GC do not uniformly carry a poor prognosis, even in the presence of widespread radiographic involvement. Consistent with other reports, IDH mutation status may identify patients with improved clinical outcome. Molecular characterization, rather than MRI features, may be most valuable for prognostication and management of GC patients.