Publicaciones científicas

Prospective validation of a new imaging scorecard to assess leptomeningeal metastasis: a joint EORTC BTG and RANO effort

01-oct-2022 | Revista: Neurology-Oncology

Emilie Le Rhun  1   2 , Patrick Devos  3 , Sebastian Winklhofer  4 , Hafida Lmalen  5 , Dieta Brandsma  6 , Priya Kumthekar  7 , Antonella Castellano  8 , Annette Compter  6 , Frederic Dhermain  9 , Enrico Franceschi  10 , Peter Forsyth  11 , Julia Furtner  12 , Norbert Galldiks  13 , Jaime Gállego Pérez-Larraya  14 , Jens Gempt  15 , Elke Hattingen  16 , Johann Martin Hempel  17 , Slavka Lukacova  18 , Giuseppe Minniti  19 , Barbara O'Brien  20 , Tjeerd J Postma  21 , Patrick Roth  1 , Roberta Rudà  22 , Niklas Schaefer  23 , Nils O Schmidt  24 , Tom J Snijders  25 , Steffi Thust  26 , Martin van den Bent  27 , Anouk van der Hoorn  28 , Guillaume Vogin  29 , Marion Smits  27   30 , Joerg C Tonn  31 , Kurt Jaeckle  32 , Matthias Preusser  33 , Michael Glantz  34 , Patrick Y Wen  35 , Martin Bendzsus  36 , Michael Weller  1


Background: Validation of the 2016 RANO MRI scorecard for leptomeningeal metastasis failed for multiple reasons. Accordingly, this joint EORTC Brain Tumor Group and RANO effort sought to prospectively validate a revised MRI scorecard for response assessment in leptomeningeal metastasis.

Methods: Coded paired cerebrospinal MRI of 20 patients with leptomeningeal metastases from solid cancers at baseline and follow-up after treatment and instructions for assessment were provided via the EORTC imaging platform. The Kappa coefficient was used to evaluate the inter-observer pairwise agreement.

Results: Thirty-five raters participated, including 9 neuroradiologists, 17 neurologists, 4 radiation oncologists, 3 neurosurgeons and 2 medical oncologists. Among single leptomeningeal metastases-related imaging findings at baseline, the best median concordance was noted for hydrocephalus (Kappa=0.63), and the worst median concordance for spinal linear enhancing disease (Kappa=0.46).

The median concordance of raters for the overall response assessment was moderate (Kappa=0.44). Notably, the interobserver agreement for the presence of parenchymal brain metastases at baseline was fair (Kappa=0.29) and virtually absent for their response to treatment. 394 of 700 ratings (20 patients x 35 raters, 56%) were fully completed. In 308 of 394 fully completed ratings (78%), the overall response assessment perfectly matched the summary interpretation of the single ratings as proposed in the scorecard instructions.

Conclusion: This study confirms the principle utility of the new scorecard, but also indicates the need for training of MRI assessment with a dedicated reviewer panel in clinical trials. Electronic case report forms with "blocking options" may be required to enforce completeness and quality of scoring.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO  Neuro Oncol. 2022 Oct 3;24(10):1726-1735. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noac043