Fiber Density Mapping in Patients with Gliomas: Histopathologic Evaluation of a Novel Approach for Post-Processing of DTI Data

Andreas Stadlbauer^1,2, Michael Buchfelder², Oliver Ganslandt²

To histopathological evaluate fiber density mapping (FDM) in glioma patients for assessment of the extent of destruction of white matter structures in the center, the transition zone and the border zone of gliomas. We correlated FDM-data and histopathological findings from 78 stereotactic biopsies of 20 glioma patients. We found a negative logarithmic correlation of fiber-density with both, % tumor infiltration and tumor cell number. For a tumor infiltration of >60% no fibers are remaining. In tumor regions with <16% tumor cells functional important fiber structures may still exists. Our histopathology-fiber-density-model may be helpful for preoperative-planning to prevent post-therapeutic neurologic deficits.