Multi-subregional susceptibility patterns in gliomas using sub-voxel quantitative susceptibility mapping

@article{zeng2026multisubregional,
  title = {{Multi-subregional susceptibility patterns in gliomas using sub-voxel quantitative susceptibility mapping}},
  author = {Shanmei Zeng and Nengjin Zhu and Junqiao Wang and Liwei Mazu and Yingqian Huang and Zuqi Xia and Siyuan He and Jiajing Wu and Haodong Qin and Zhiyun Yang and Xuesong Liu and Hongjiang Wei and Jianping Chu},
  journal = {European Radiology Experimental},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1186/s41747-026-00847-3},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s41747-026-00847-3},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Multi-subregional susceptibility patterns in gliomas using sub-voxel quantitative susceptibility mapping
AU  - Shanmei Zeng
AU  - Nengjin Zhu
AU  - Junqiao Wang
AU  - Liwei Mazu
AU  - Yingqian Huang
AU  - Zuqi Xia
AU  - Siyuan He
AU  - Jiajing Wu
AU  - Haodong Qin
AU  - Zhiyun Yang
AU  - Xuesong Liu
AU  - Hongjiang Wei
AU  - Jianping Chu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
JO  - European Radiology Experimental
DO  - 10.1186/s41747-026-00847-3
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s41747-026-00847-3
AB  - Objective: To evaluate glioma susceptibility patterns and their clinical/pathological correlations using a sub-voxel quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) technique that quantifies the paramagnetic (χpara) and diamagnetic (χdia) components (APART-QSM).  Materials and methods: We enrolled 120 pathologically confirmed glioma patients (n = 120; aged 47 ± 13 years, mean ± standard deviation; 51 women) retrospectively and 6 for histologic validation prospectively. χpara/χdia maps were generated. Subregions included peritumoral edema (PE), subdivided into four equidistant subregions, tumor parenchyma (TP), and necrosis, cystic degeneration (CD). Associations between multi-subregional susceptibility and clinicopathological parameters and a conditional inference tree (CIT) model for genotyping were analyzed.  Results: Compared to contralateral normal-appearing tissue (CNAT), TP in high-grade and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild-type gliomas exhibited increased χpara (p ≤ 0.044), low-grade and IDH-mutant gliomas lower χbulk, χpara and χdia (p ≤ 0.015). PE demonstrated lower susceptibility than CNAT (p < 0.001), with χpara/χdia initially decreasing then increasing with peritumoral distance (p ≤ 0.008). Necrosis showed elevated χpara/χdia (p ≤ 0.025), and CD in oligodendrogliomas displayed higher χdia than CNAT (p = 0.019). The CIT model (TP χdia and PE χpara) achieved 0.702 accuracy. Univariable analysis showed that higher TP χpara/χdia correlated with shorter survival (p < 0.001). In the prospective subgroup, TP χpara correlated with iron content (r = 0.901, p = 0.014), TP χdia/χpara correlated with Ki-67 (r = 0.841, p = 0.036).  Conclusion: APART-QSM revealed distinct, clinically relevant susceptibility profiles across glioma subregions with potential associations with genotyping and prognosis, providing biomarkers for iron content and tumor proliferation. Distance-associated susceptibility pattern in PE may reflect peritumoral microenvironmental properties.  Key Points: Question Gliomas exhibit complex histopathology with heterogeneous magnetic susceptibility. Effective preoperative evaluation of multi-subregional susceptibility patterns in gliomas facilitates refined tissue characterization and guides clinical treatment.  Findings Glioma subregions showed clinically relevant susceptibility profiles, correlating with iron content, tumor proliferation, and revealing a distance-associated peritumoral edema pattern.  Relevance statement Our study used the APART-QSM technique to characterize multi-subregional susceptibility patterns and pathological changes in different glioma types, revealing its potential association with glioma genotyping and prognosis.  Graphical Abstract:
SN  - 2509-9280
ER  -