Mechanical characteristics of glioblastoma and peritumoral tumor-free human brain tissue

Background The diagnosis of brain tumor is a serious event for the affected patient. Surgical resection is a crucial part in
the treatment of brain tumors. However, the distinction between tumor and brain tissue can be difficult, even for experienced
neurosurgeons. This is especially true in the case of gliomas. In this project we examined whether the biomechanical parameters
elasticity and stress relaxation behavior are suitable as additional differentiation criteria between tumorous (glioblastoma
multiforme; glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype; GBM) and non-tumorous, peritumoral tissue.
Methods Indentation measurements were used to examine non-tumorous human brain tissue and GBM samples for the
biomechanical properties of elasticity and stress-relaxation behavior. The results of these measurements were then used in
a classification algorithm (Logistic Regression) to distinguish between tumor and non-tumor.
Results Differences could be found in elasticity spread and relaxation behavior between tumorous and non-tumorous tissue.
Classification was successful with a sensitivity/recall of 83% (sd = 12%) and a precision of 85% (sd = 9%) for detecting
tumorous tissue.
Conclusion The findings imply that the data on mechanical characteristics, with particular attention to stress relaxation