Epidemiological profile of hospitalizations in Brazil for malignant brain neoplasm among 2017 and 2020

Introduction: The malignant brain neoplasm is the cerebral tumor constituted by primitives cells with neuronal and glial diferentiation. Objective: To evaluate the profile of hospitalizations due to malignant brain neoplasm registered in Brazil among 2017 and 2020. Methods: We performed a cross secctional study from public health system database of hospitalar morbity related to hospitalizations by year and federative unit among 2017 and 2020. Results: In the period from 2017 to 2020, Brazil registered a total of 58.177 admissions for Malignant Neoplasm of the Brain. The Southeast region had highest rate of hospitalizations in that time interval, with a total of 25,266 cases (highest rate was 2019, with 6.636 cases). South region was the second place, with 13.738 hospitalizations (highest rate was 2020, with 3.613 cases). Third, Northeast region with 11,197 hospitalizations (the highest rate was 2018, with 2,837 hospitalizations). Fourth, the Central-West region, where 5.586 were hospitalizaed (with highest number of hospitalizations in 2018, 1.469 cases). The North region has the lowest incidence, with 2,390 hospitalizations (highest rate was 2019, with 665 hospitalizations). In relation to the total result of hospitalizations, the year 2019 has the highest rate of hospitalizations (n = 14.966) and the year 2020 the lowest rate (n = 14.235). Conclusion: The Southeast region had the highest rates of hospitalizations due to malignant brain câncer and the year of 2019 had the higher prevalence of hospitalized.

The diagnostic value of postcontrast susceptibility-weighted imaging in the assessment of intracranial brain neoplasm at 3T

Background Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is occasionally performed with intravenous gadolinium (Gd). It was reported that SWI can be performed after Gd injection without information loss or signal change. Purpose To investigate the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced SWI (CE-SWI) in the assessment of intracranial brain neoplasm. Material and Methods After obtaining the approval of the local ethics committee, 35 brain neoplasm patients (24 with metastasis and 11 with glioblastoma multiforme [GBM]) were enrolled. In order to investigate the value of using CE-SWI, two neuroradiologists performed an evaluation of the frequency of the intratumoral susceptibility signals (ITSS) in SWI and CE-SWI with visual assessment using 5-grade scales. We evaluated the visibility of the tumor margins and the internal architecture of tumors on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI), contrast-enhanced T1 (CE-T1), SWI, and CE-SWI. Results The contrast-enhanced scans (CE-T1 and CE-SWI) showed statistically significant higher scores compared to non-enhanced scans (T1WI and SWI) for the analysis of the tumor margin in GBM and metastasis ( P < 0.05, Wilcoxon signed rank test). Statistically significant higher scores are noted in GBMs compared to metastases in the visibility of the internal architecture of tumors on CE-SWI and the visibility of the tumor margin on CE-T1 ( P < 0.05, Mann–Whitney test). Conclusion Based on our results, SWI can be performed after gadolinium injection without information loss or signal change. CE-SWI is useful in evaluating intracranial neoplasm due to its ability to simultaneously demonstrate both ITSS that are not visible with conventional magnetic resonance sequences and contrast enhancement.