A brain scan measure may help predict how brain tumors will go
Original title: Integrating DCE-MRI-Based Dural Drainage Function Indicators into Machine Learning Models for Improved Intracranial Tumor Prognosis.
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.
This study watched people over time. It is not a treatment you can get.
The short version
Doctors tested a brain scan to better predict survival with brain tumors.
What was studied. Researchers scanned 246 people with tumors inside the skull to check brain fluid drainage. After 2.5 years, 100 of them were included, 51 alive and 49 who had died.
What they found. Computer models tried to predict who would live and who would die. The models sorted people better when the drainage scan results were added. The same pattern showed up in the 43 people with glioma: A tumor that starts in the glial cells, the support cells of the brain and spinal cord. Gliomas are given a grade from 1 to 4 describing how the tumor is expected to behave. See the glossary.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: A brain scan might one day help doctors judge how a tumor will go. That could help with planning care. It does not change treatment today.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a treatment, and it is not a cure. It was one study in a small group of people. The tool has not been proven in other hospitals or in daily care. Doctors do not use it now.
Source: PubMed, September 25, 2026 · Read the original
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