Chonnam Med J.  2002 Dec;38(4):388-395.

A Study of Vascularity in Brain Tumors using Perfusion MR Imaging

• Seo JJ
• Moon YJ
• Jeong GW
• Yoon W
• Kim YH
• Jeong YY
• Chung TW
• Kim JK
• Park JG
• Kang HK
• Jung S
• Kang SS
• Moon JD

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the vascularity of brain tumors using echo-planar perfusion weighted MR imaging. We performed perfusion weighted MR imaging, together with conventional MRI, for 19 patients with primary or metastatic brain tumors, consisting of 12 gliomas (7 high grade and 5 low grade), 7 metastatic tumors. A total of 240 perfusion MR images on 4 axial slices were obtained with echo planar imaging pulse sequence after rapid injection of contrast media, followed by postprocessing of the perfusion MR images. Subsequently, the cerebral blood volume (CBV) ratios were calculated by dividing the mean of the tumor CBV by the mean of the normal white matter area. And we assessed the quality of mean transit time (MTT) map, which is one of PWI. The CBV ratio of the tumor to the contralateral normal side was as follows: high grade glioma, 0.41-5.66 (mean: 2.64+/-0.60); low grade glioma, 0.78-1.67 (mean: 1.26+/-0.29); metastasis, 0.27-6.52 (mean: 2.01+/-0.86). High grade gliomas were more hypervascular than low grade gliomas, but in the variable range of relative cerebral blood volumes. In metastatic tumor, the CBV maps showed relatively high and variable blood volumes. Nine of 19 cases (47%) was assessed good quality in MTT maps. In conclusion, perfusion MRI might be a very useful method in assessment of vascularity of the brain tumors.

Keyword

MR techniques; Perfusion; Brain tumors; Vascularity

MeSH Terms

Blood Volume
Brain Neoplasms*
Brain*
Contrast Media
Echo-Planar Imaging
Glioma
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Neoplasm Metastasis
Perfusion*
Contrast Media