Change in plasma vascular endothelial growth factor after gamma knife radiosurgery for meningioma: a preliminary study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in the plasma level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) after Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for the treatment of meningioma.


METHODS
Fourteen patients with meningiomas had peripheral venous blood collected at the time of GKRS and at 1 week, 1 month, 3 month and 6 month visits. Plasma VEGF levels were measured using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. For controls, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 20 healthy volunteers.


RESULTS
The mean plasma VEGF level (29.6 pg/mL) in patients with meningiomas before GKRS was significantly lower than that of the control group (62.4 pg/mL, p=0.019). At 1 week after GKRS, the mean plasma VEGF levels decreased to 23.4 pg/mL, and dropped to 13.9 pg/mL at 1 month, 14.8 pg/mL at 3 months, then increased to 27.7 pg/mL at 6 months. Two patients (14.3%) with peritumoral edema (PTE) showed a level of VEGF 6 months after GKRS higher than their preradiosurgical level. There was no significant association found in an analysis of correlation between PTE and tumor size, marginal dose, age, and sex.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study is first in demonstrating changes of plasma VEGF after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for meningioma. This study may provide a stimulus for more work related to whether measurement of plasma level has a correlation with tumor response after SRS for meningioma.
Department of Neurosurgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
Seong-Hyun
SH
Park
Department of Neurosurgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
Jeong-Hyun
JH
Hwang
Department of Neurosurgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
Sung-Kyoo
SK
Hwang
Gamma Knife radiosurgery; Meningioma; Stereotactic radiosurgery; Vascular endothelial growth factor