Tumor vascularity in the brain: evaluation with dynamic susceptibility-contrast MR imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of dynamic susceptibility-contrast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for diagnosis of intraaxial brain tumors.


METHODS
Ten patients with such tumors (two hemangioblastomas, five low-grade astrocytomas, and three glioblastomas) underwent examination at 1.5 T. After bolus injection of 0.15 mmol/kg gadopentetate dimeglumine, gradient-echo MR images were obtained every 3.6 seconds for 90 seconds. Region-of-interest analyses were performed in all tumors.


RESULTS
The greatest loss in signal intensity during the first pass of the contrast agent was seen in hemangioblastomas; low-grade astrocytomas had the least loss. The differences in integration of change in the T2* relaxation rate were significant among the three types of tumor (hemangioblastomas vs low-grade astrocytomas, P < .001; hemangioblastomas vs glioblastomas, P < .005; and glioblastomas vs low-grade astrocytomas, P < .02) and indicated differences in vascularity.


CONCLUSIONS
Dynamic susceptibility-contrast MR imaging can provide useful hemodynamic information about intraaxial brain tumors that is not provided by standard MR imaging and therefore contributes to the differential diagnosis.
Department of Radiology, Fukui Medical School, Japan.
M
M
Maeda
S
S
Itoh
H
H
Kimura
T
T
Iwasaki
N
N
Hayashi
K
K
Yamamoto
Y
Y
Ishii
T
T
Kubota
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000098:blood supply; D001810:Blood Volume; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply*; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply; D002648:Child; D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005682:Gadolinium; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D005910:Glioma / Q000098:blood supply; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000098:blood supply; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008536:Meglumine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D004369:Pentetic Acid
D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D008536:Meglumine; D004369:Pentetic Acid; D005682:Gadolinium; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA