Pascuzzo Riccardo, Rudà Roberta, Barker Peter B, Xiang Jianwei, Antelmi Luigi, Gianeri Ruben, Pellerino Alessia, Mo Francesca, Soffietti Riccardo, Bizzi Alberto
Neuroradiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy.
Division of Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Neurooncol Adv. 2025 Aug 20;7(1):vdaf155. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaf155. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
BACKGROUND: Patients with IDH-mutant gliomas often experience seizures that significantly affect their quality of life and outcome. Seizure activity may be the result of dysregulation of excitatory (glutamate, Glu) and inhibitory (gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA) neurotransmitters in peritumoral tissue. A non-invasive measurement of Glu (in combination with glutamine, termed Glx) and GABA is feasible with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS). The aim of this study was to determine whether IDH-mutant glioma patients with seizures exhibit altered Glx and GABA levels compared to patients without seizures. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study involving 23 glioma patients (15 with, 8 without seizures), who underwent single-voxel H-MRS using the MEGA-PRESS sequence. H-MRS data were collected from volumes of tissues in the tumor/peritumoral regions and parietal cortex used as control. Metabolite ratios (Glx/Cr, GABA/Cr, Glx/GABA) were analyzed and correlated with seizure presence and other clinical-pathological parameters. Longitudinal H-MRS data in a subset of 10 patients were also acquired. RESULTS: At first study, the Glx/GABA ratio was significantly higher in the tumor/peritumoral tissue of patients with seizures compared to those without ( = .023). Longitudinal data confirmed this finding, showing consistently elevated Glx/GABA values in patients with seizures. Moreover, patients taking two or more antiseizure medications had significantly higher Glx/GABA ratios and lower GABA/Cr ratios in the peritumoral region. CONCLUSION: Glioma patients with seizures have an altered balance of Glx and GABA in tumor/peritumoral tissue, supporting the hypothesis that neurotransmitter imbalances contribute to seizure activity. H-MRS may provide non-invasive biomarkers for identifying neurotransmitter dysregulation in glioma-related epilepsy.
Neurooncol Adv. 2025-8-20
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