Table 3.
Correlation between LM presence in MRI, CSF-CTC count and survival.
| MRI characteristic | Consensus interpretationa | Median CSF-CTC count | P value | HR for OS (95% CI) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM in MRI brain | Absent (72/138, 52%) | 1.5 | <0.0001 | Ref | 0.88 |
| Present (66/138, 48%) | 200 | 0.97 (0.63–1.50) | |||
| Linear enhancement in MRI brain | Absent (87/138, 63%) | 3 | 0.0003 | Ref | 0.77 |
| Present (51/138, 37%) | 200 | 1.07 (0.68–1.69) | |||
| Nodular enhancement in MRI brain | Absent (102/138, 74%) | 4 | 0.0019 | Ref | 0.73 |
| Present (36/138, 26%) | 200 | 1.09 (0.67–1.77) | |||
| LM in MRI spine | Absent (72/115, 63%) | 4 | <0.0001 | Ref | 0.34 |
| Present (43/115, 37%) | 200 | 1.27 (0.78–2.09) | |||
| Linear | |||||
| (38/115, 33%) | 200 | 1.43 (0.86–2.35) | |||
| Nodular enhancement in MRI spine | Absent (98/115, 85%) | 61 | 0.45 | Ref | 0.11 |
| Present (17/115, 15%) | 137 | 1.68 (0.89–3.17) | |||
| LM in MRI brain and spine | Absent in both (62/135, 46%) | 1 | <0.0001 | Ref | |
| Present in MRI brain only (31/135, 23%) | 64 | 1.10 (0.63–1.91) | 0.74 | ||
| Present in MRI spine only (9/135, 7%) | 200 | 3.84 (1.67–8.86) | 0.0016 | ||
| Present in both (33/135, 22%) | 200 | 1.14 (0.64–2.02) | 0.66 | ||
| Hydrocephalus | Absent (116/138, 84%) | 8 | 0.0025 | Ref | 0.0025 |
| Present (22/138, 16%) | 200 | 2.31 (1.34–3.97) | |||
| Overall pattern of LM in MRI brain and spine | Absent (48/111, 43%) | 2 | 0.0002 | Ref | |
| Linear only (25/111, 23%) | 200 | 1.32 (0.70–2.50) | 0.39 | ||
| Nodular only (9/111, 8%) | 18 | 0.79 (0.30–2.06) | 0.63 | ||
| Both linear and nodular (29/111, 26%) | 200 | 1.43 (0.78–2.61) | 0.25 |
CI: confidence interval, CSF: cerebrospinal fluid, CTC: circulating tumor cells, HR: hazard ratio, LM: leptomeningeal metastases, MRI: magnetic resonance imaging, OS: overall survival, Ref: reference.
a
Denominators in characteristics that are a composite of MRI brain and spine are smaller that the total MRIs available due to lack of majority consensus amongst our independent readers for a few patients,which have been eliminated from these analyses.