Long-Term Disease Stability and Radiological Progression in Low-Grade Glioma: A Retrospective MRI-Based Cohort Study of Post-surgical and Observation Groups

Background: Low-grade gliomas (LGGs) are generally known as primary brain tumors that grow over time because of the residual tumor after intervention.A series of MRIs is used to see any radiological progression over a course of time.Aim: This study aimed to make a comparison between the radiological progression and disease stability for patients with subtotal resection and for those that were managed through observation. Methods. A total of 94 patients withLGGs who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI of the brain and had their follow-up between July 2021 and July 2026 documented were retrospectively reviewed.The volume of the tumor was recorded before and after the intervention.The patient was considered to have progressed only if the tumor had increased; however, it was considered stable if there was no increase observed or the tumor had been reduced.Fisher exact test was used to compare the groups.Results.The group (mean age = 35.3years; range, 8-70 years) consisted of patients who underwent subtotal resection (n=59, 62.8%), observation (n=33, 35.1%), and total resection (n=2, 2.1%).Of the 59 patients, 41 (69.5%) had stable disease after subtotal resection while 18 (30.5%)progressed.In the observation group, 28 out of 32 assessable patients (87.5%) were stable, and four (12.5%) progressed.Progression was more frequently observed after subtotal resection than observation (30.5% vs. 12.5%; OR 3.07, 95% CI 0.94-10.05;p=0.073), although the difference was not statistically significant.Patients who had a complete resection also remained stable.Conclusion: In this MRI-based retrospective cohort of patients with LGG, most patients remained radiologically stable during follow-up.Progression was more frequent after subtotal resection than observation.