title: Quantitative measurement of blood flow using perfusion CT for assessing clinicopathologic features and prognosis in patients with rectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The ability to evaluate clinicopathologic features and prognosis before surgery by contrast-enhanced CT would be valuable for managing rectal cancer. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of perfusion CT in patients with rectal cancer before surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four consecutive patients (27 men, 17 women; median age, 63.6 years) with rectal cancer underwent perfusion CT before surgery. We retrospectively investigated the correlations between tumor blood flow generated by perfusion CT and clinicopathologic features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant correlation between blood flow and wall invasion (P = 0.04). Well-differentiated tumors showed significantly higher blood flow than moderately differentiated tumors (P = 0.03). There was a significant tendency for tumors with low blood flow to show lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0005), vascular invasion (P = 0.004), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.04), and distant metastasis (P = 0.0005). For blood flow, accuracy was 75% for detection of tumors with lymph node metastasis if the cutoff point was set at 55 ml/100 g per minute. Patients with high blood flow tumors survived significantly longer than those with low blood flow tumors (P = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blood flow of rectal cancers may be useful to evaluate pathologic features and prognosis before surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Frontier Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan. hayatin1973@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayano
authors.forename: Kiyohiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shuto
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yanagawa
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okazumi
authors.forename: Hisahiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsubara
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000098:blood supply / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed