Comparison of atrx mutation with demographic and radiological findings in patients with intracranial glial tumours

ABSTRACT COMPARISON OF ATRX MUTATION WITH DEMOGRAPHIC AND RADIOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH INTRACRANIAL GLIAL TUMOURS The most common primary malignant tumors of the central nervous system are gliomas. Although data on the molecular and genetic profiles of glial tumors are increasing, their etiology is still controversial. In studies conducted in this context, investigating the effectiveness of ATRX gene expression in gliomas also comes to the fore. In our study, we investigated whether there was any correlation between demographic characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging findings and the degree of ATRX expression immunohistochemically in pathology preparations in patients who underwent surgery for an intracranial mass and were diagnosed histopathologically as a glial tumor. The study was conducted with 37 patients with glial tumors pathologically diagnosed as glial tumors who underwent surgery in the Department of Neurosurgery at Firat University Medical Faculty Hospital between 01.09.2022-01.09.2023. As a result of immunohistochemical staining, three classifications were made based on ATRX expression levels. This classification; It was done as less than 10% expression, between 10 and 50% expression, and more than 50% expression. Additionally, in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of patients, ADC measurements in Diffusion Weighted Images Among the patients included in the study, 62.2% (n=23) were male, 37.8% (n=14) were female, 43.2% (n=16) of the tumors were on the left side, 45.9% (n=17) on the right side, and 67.6% (n=25) had necrosis. When the relationship between ATRX expression level and gender was analyzed, it was determined that all of the patients with less than 10% expression were male (n=7), while 55% (n=11) of the women had more than 50% expression and had a higher expression rate than men. In 4 of 6 patients with grade II tumors, the degree of expression was between 10% and 50%. More than 50% expression was observed in 16 of 26 patients with grade III and IV tumors. The degree of ATRX expression in glial tumors is determined immunohistochemically after surgery or biopsy. Non-invasive pre-surgical estimation of ATRX expression may be meaningful and valuable for providing diagnostic and prognostic information. In our study, the degree of expression was found to be higher in female patients and in patients with necrosis on MRI. Key words: ATRX, Glial Tumours, Magnetic Resonance Imagine, Necrosis