Tumour blood flow and partition coefficients: correlation with grade of cerebral gliomas using xenon-enhanced computed tomography.
It is possible to underestimate the grade of nonenhancing cerebral tumours on conventional contrast-enhanced MRI or CT. Differentiation of high- and low-grade gliomas by measurement of the brain-blood partition coefficient lambda (T lambda) with Xe-enhanced CT (XeCT) has been reported. We assessed the practical applications of XeCT in suspected low-grade astrocytomas. We examined 15 patients with tumours which showed no contrast enhancement on conventional MRI and CT, using XeCT. Tumour blood flow (TBF) and T lambda were calculated. Fourteen patients underwent surgery, one patient had a biopsy. We recognized three histological groups. While T lambda differed significantly between them, TBF did not. Group 1 contained grade II-III astrocytomas and T lambda was 0.77; group 2 contained grade I-II astrocytomas with T lambda 1.14, and group 3 four oligodendrogliomas in which a T lambda of 1.50 was found.
Nasel
C
C
Department of Radiology, University of Vienna, Austria.
Rössler
K
K
Heimberger
K
K
Görzer
H
H
Lassmann
H
H
Schindler
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D001706:Biopsy; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009837:Oligodendroglioma / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D015173:Supratentorial Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014978:Xenon
D003287:Contrast Media; D014978:Xenon