Scans before surgery may show where a brain tumor will come back
Original title: Preoperative assessment of recurrence-prone subregions within the peritumoral region of glioblastoma: a comparison between diffusion kurtosis and diffusion tensor imaging.
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 was a look back at scans from people, not a test of a new treatment.
The short version
A scan taken before surgery may point to the spots where 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 is likely to return.
What was studied. Doctors looked back at scans from 55 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. All of them later had the tumor come back. The team compared two kinds of MRI scans taken before surgery.
What they found. 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 often comes back in the tissue just outside the main tumor. Both scan types could tell apart the spots where it later came back from the spots where it did not. In this group, one measure from the newer scan type sorted the spots a bit better than the older scan type did.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: If this holds up, scans could help doctors see which nearby tissue is most at risk. That might help them plan surgery or radiation for that area. This is an early idea, not a new treatment.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a cure and not a new drug. Nothing new was tried on the patients. The team only looked back at scans that were already taken. The authors call the results early and say larger studies are needed. This will not change your care today.
Source: PubMed, August 5, 2026 · Read the original
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