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Research progress of magnetic resonance habitat imaging in the prognosis of malignant tumors
CHEN Zeke  WANG Xiaochun 

Cite this article as: CHEN Z K, WANG X C. Research progress of magnetic resonance habitat imaging in the prognosis of malignant tumors[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(2): 222-228. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.02.036.


[Abstract] Traditional radiology has made great progress in evaluating the prognosis of malignant tumors by analyzing the quantitative information in medical images and finding and quantifying the subtle features that are difficult to be recognized by naked eyes. However, there are still some challenges in radiology, which generally treat tumors as a relatively evenly distributed whole internally and cannot fully express tumor heterogeneity. Tumor heterogeneity is the main cause of tumor progression, treatment resistance, and recurrence. By segmenting images, the tumor habitat map can be generated, which can reflect the heterogeneity of tumor tissues, molecules, and their microenvironment. This provides a new perspective for understanding the biological characteristics and therapeutic response of tumors and helps to evaluate the prognosis of malignant tumors. For example, it has been found that in glioblastoma (GBM), pre- and post-treatment volume changes in hyper-vascular cellular habitat and hypo-vascular cellular habitat correlate strongly with tumor progression, providing potential imaging markers for predicting patient survival after surgery. This article reviews the latest research progress of magnetic resonance habitat imaging in the prognosis of malignant tumors.
[Keywords] malignant tumors；habitat imaging；magnetic resonance imaging；prognosis

CHEN Zeke   WANG Xiaochun*  

Department of Radiology, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China

Corresponding author: WANG X C, E-mail: 2010xiaochun@163.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2024-11-01
Accepted  2025-02-10
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.02.036
Cite this article as: CHEN Z K, WANG X C. Research progress of magnetic resonance habitat imaging in the prognosis of malignant tumors[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(2): 222-228. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.02.036.

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