Precision Imaging of Pediatric High-grade Gliomas with Quantitative Diffusion Weighted Imaging and Texture Analysis to Identify Imaging Biomarkers That Predict Tumor Genetics and Patient Outcomes

The current standard of care for treatment of pediatric patients with high grade gliomas is surgery followed by radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy. Midline gliomas with histone H3 K27M mutation are a new class of malignant gliomas that present specific challenges. These challenges include having extremely poor prognosis due to being located in regions of the brain where surgery is difficult. Pediatric high grade gliomas are molecularly different from adult gliomas and in comparison to adults, children with high grade gliomas have persistently poor clinical outcomes. Molecular markers have been shown to be important for treatment of adult gliomas. The recently characterized molecular marker, histone H3 K27M, could prove similarly important in the treatment of pediatric gliomas. Due to invasive potentially site-limited availability of molecular testing, there is a critical need to identify imaging biomarkers of pediatric high grade gliomas. Researchers are looking for biomarkers that could predict tumor molecular markers used as therapy targets, tumor response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and clinical performance levels of children undergoing treatment. The goal of the proposed study is to identify imaging markers that predict the molecular markers, histologic features, and clinical outcomes in a cohort of pediatric patients with high grade gliomas. Researchers will do this using data from patients that underwent tissue sampling, genetic analysis of tumor tissue, and at least a 12 month follow up, available through the Pediatric Brain Tumor Atlas.