Can brain scans help show a tumor gene marker without surgery?
Original title: Explainable diffusion-perfusion radiomics using apparent diffusion coefficient and arterial spin labeling for ATRX status prediction in glioblastoma.
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 used past scans from real patients, but the tool is not ready for use in care.
The short version
Researchers tested whether a computer tool could read MRI scans to guess a gene marker in glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4, the highest grade. It grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary, but it is not ready for patient care.
What was studied. Researchers looked back at the MRI scans of 106 people with glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4, the highest grade. It grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary. They used a computer tool to study two kinds of scans. One kind shows how water moves in the tumor. The other shows blood flow.
What they found. The tool did a fair job, but not a great one, at guessing whether a tumor had lost a gene marker called ATRX: A gene checked on the pathology report. Whether the tumor cells still make the ATRX protein helps sort a glioma into one type or another. See the glossary. Both kinds of scans helped the tool make its guesses. The researchers said the tool was often wrong when it guessed that the marker was lost.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Today, doctors need a piece of the tumor to check this marker. Someday, scans might give doctors an early clue without that step. For now, this is only an idea to study more.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean a scan can replace a tissue sample. The tool is not used by doctors today. It was built from past scans of one group of patients. It still needs testing in larger, separate groups of people. It is not a treatment and not a cure.
Source: PubMed, September 3, 2026 · Read the original
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