Brain Metastases: Insights from Statistical Modeling of Size Distribution
| Autor: | K.M. Chapple, C R Bird, M. Buller |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Exponential distribution 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging 03 medical and health sciences symbols.namesake 0302 clinical medicine Goodness of fit Statistics Brain mri Humans Medicine Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging Pareto distribution Neoplasm Metastasis Aged Models Statistical Brain Neoplasms business.industry Adult Brain Statistical model Middle Aged Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mr imaging Distribution (mathematics) Likelihood-ratio test symbols Female Neurology (clinical) business 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Zdroj: | AJNR Am J Neuroradiol |
| ISSN: | 1936-959X 0195-6108 |
| Popis: | BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Brain metastases are a common finding on brain MRI. However, the factors that dictate their size and distribution are incompletely understood. Our aim was to discover a statistical model that can account for the size distribution of parenchymal metastases in the brain as measured on contrast-enhanced MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumor volumes were calculated on the basis of measured tumor diameters from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo images in 68 patients with untreated parenchymal metastatic disease. Tumor volumes were then placed in rank-order distributions and compared with 11 different statistical curve types. The resultant R2 values to assess goodness of fit were calculated. The top 2 distributions were then compared using the likelihood ratio test, with resultant R values demonstrating the relative likelihood of these distributions accounting for the observed data. RESULTS: Thirty-nine of 68 cases best fit a power distribution (mean R2 = 0.938 ± 0.050), 20 cases best fit an exponential distribution (mean R2 = 0.957 ± 0.050), and the remaining cases were scattered among the remaining distributions. Likelihood ratio analysis revealed that 66 of 68 cases had a positive mean R value (1.596 ± 1.316), skewing toward a power law distribution. CONCLUSIONS: The size distributions of untreated brain metastases favor a power law distribution. This finding suggests that metastases do not exist in isolation, but rather as part of a complex system. Furthermore, these results suggest that there may be a relatively small number of underlying variables that substantially influence the behavior of these systems. The identification of these variables could have a profound effect on our understanding of these lesions and our ability to treat them. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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