A blood flow MRI scan may help tell two brain tumors apart
Original title: Vascular habitat analysis using dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion MRI for differentiating glioblastoma from solitary brain metastases.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Researchers looked back at scans people already had, so it is not yet a proven test.
The short version
A special MRI scan may help doctors tell glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary from cancer that spread to the brain.
What was studied. Researchers looked back at MRI scans from 141 people with brain tumors at one hospital. 74 had glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary. 67 had a single tumor that had spread to the brain from cancer elsewhere.
What they found. The scan measured blood flow in four zones in and around each tumor. glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary had more blood flow than the spread tumors in all four zones. The swollen tissue around glioblastoma also looked different. A model that mixed scan details with the tumor's location did a fair job of telling the two apart.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Doctors sometimes cannot tell these two tumors apart from a normal scan. That matters, because the two need very different care. This kind of scan might one day help doctors answer that question sooner. For now, a tissue sample is still how doctors know for sure.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a treatment, and it is not a cure for anything. It is an early look back at old scans from one hospital only. The study did not test the scan on new patients to see if it holds up. Other hospitals need to try it before doctors can trust it. Nothing here changes the care you get today.
Source: PubMed, October 7, 2026 · Read the original
This plain-language summary was written by AI and published automatically after passing our automatic safety checks. How we write.