Association between molecular alterations and tumor location and MRI characteristics in anaplastic gliomas

The aim of this study was to determine if molecular alterations are associated with tumor location and radiological characteristics in anaplastic gliomas. We performed a retrospective analysis of 122 anaplastic gliomas for molecular alterations (IDH1/2 mutations, TP53 mutations, and 1p19q co-deletion) to compare MRI features (location and image characteristics). We observed that IDH mutation is strongly associated with frontal location (P = 0.001). However, 13 tumors not located in the cerebral cortex were IDH intact tumors (P < 0.0001). While IDH mutation and TP53 mutation are significantly associated with AA (p < 0.0001), IDH mutation and 1p19q co-deletion were significantly associated with AO/AOA (p < 0.0001). No tumors with IDH mutation and 1p19q co-deletion infiltrated the temporal lobe (P = 0.003). The tumors with 1p19q co-deletion and histologically diagnosed as AO/AOA were associated with contrast enhancement on MR images (p = 0.007, p = 0.002, respectively) and those with TP53 mutation had a weak association with sharp tumor borders (p = 0.043). MRI features might be useful to predict molecular profiles in anaplastic gliomas.