The solitary enhancing cerebral lesion: can FLAIR aid the differentiation between glioma and metastasis?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to investigate the diagnostic utility of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) in differentiating between glioma and metastasis by assessing for nonenhancing adjacent cortical signal intensity abnormality in patients who present with a solitary enhancing cerebral lesion. METHODS After approval from the institutional ethics committee was obtained, the MR imaging studies of 70 patients with a solitary enhancing lesion, without previous surgery or treatment, were reviewed. The axial FLAIR studies were initially reviewed for cortical involvement. If cortex involvement was detected, comparison with the axial T1, with and without gadolinium enhancement, was made to determine whether the cortex involvement was in an area without enhancement. If this was the case, the study was considered positive for glioma. Statistical analysis consisted of binary logistic regression and a 2 x 2 contingency table. RESULTS Involvement of the adjacent cortex with FLAIR signal intensity abnormality but without enhancement was seen in 19 of 70 patients; 16 were gliomas and 3 were solitary metastasis. The sensitivity and specificity of this finding were 44% and 91%, respectively. The positive predictive value for glioma was 84%. CONCLUSION FLAIR, when interpreted in concert with pre- and postgadolinium T1-weighted images, may be useful in differentiating glioma from metastasis when a solitary enhancing cerebral lesion is present. The presence of nonenhancing adjacent cortical involvement in a solitary enhancing lesion is a frequent and relatively specific sign.