Diagnostic Value/Accuracy of Diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Low-grade Glioma: Systematic Review

Tumor grading plays a decisive role in glioma classification, which impacts the treatment strategy and prognosis of the patient. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) technique is a noninvasive technique used in tumor grading. This study explores whether DWI can be effectively used in tumor grading and the identification of low-grade glioma (LGG) by analyzing apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. Publicly available English databases, PubMed and Google Scholar, were queried from 2015 to 2021. We mined a total of 465 research documents; of which nine articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The overall findings show cutoff threshold min ADC values with higher b value playing a significant role in the differentiation of high-grade gliomas and LGGs, tumor grading, and determining tumor progression and stability. This systematic review suggests the development of unified DWI imaging parameters with better sensitivity and specificity for grading LGG tumors.