Olfactory Neuroblastoma: Re-Evaluating the Paradigm of Intracranial Extension and Cyst Formation

Rebecca A Dumont; Miguel Fernando Palma Diaz; William Hsu; Ali R Sepahdari

doi:10.3390/diagnostics12030614

Olfactory Neuroblastoma: Re-Evaluating the Paradigm of Intracranial Extension and Cyst Formation

Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 Mar 1;12(3):614. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12030614.

Authors

Rebecca A Dumont^{1

2}, Miguel Fernando Palma Diaz³, William Hsu⁴, Ali R Sepahdari^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Neuroradiology Section, Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
² Diagnostic Department, Division of Radiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁴ Medical & Imaging Informatics, Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁵ Diagnostic Radiology, Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to assess the prevalence of cyst formation at the brain-tumor interface in olfactory neuroblastoma. We used the UCLA patient-based Pathology and Radiology Head and Neck Database (UPP&R HAND) to identify the largest patient cohort reported to date with imaging and pathology data. Eighteen of thirty-one patients (58.1%) had evidence of intracranial extension on MRI, while four (22.0%) demonstrated cyst formation at the brain-tumor interface. The extent of intracranial extension was by far the strongest predictor for intracranial cyst formation, regardless of Hyams tumor grade, using a binary logistics regression model (p = 0.002) and ROC curve analysis (AUC 94.6%). Cyst formation at the brain-tumor interface was an uncommon imaging finding, and tends to occur with a larger component of intracranial tumor extension.

Keywords: MRI; esthesioneuroblastoma; olfactory neuroblastoma; radiology–pathology correlation.