Early changes measured by CT perfusion imaging in tumor microcirculation following radiosurgery in rat C6 brain gliomas.

Object: In this paper, the authors' aim was to use CT perfusion imaging to evaluate the early changes in tumor microcirculation following radiosurgery in rat C6 brain gliomas.

Methods: C6 glioma cells were inoculated into the right caudate nucleus of 25 Wistar rats using a stereotactic procedure. Tumor-bearing rats were randomly divided into 2 groups (tumor group and treatment group). Rats in the treatment group received maximal doses of 20 Gy delivered by the X-knife unit 16 days postimplantation. Computed tomography perfusion imaging was performed in all rats 3 weeks after tumor implantation prior to death and histopathological analysis.

Results: Hypocellular regions and tumor edema were increased in the treatment group compared with the tumor group. Parameters of CT perfusion imaging including cerebral blood volume (CBV) and mean transit time (MTT) of the tumors as well as the permeability surface area (PSA) product in the tumor-brain districts were decreased in the treatment group compared with the tumor group (p < 0.05). Although microvascular density (MVD) in the periphery of the tumors in the treatment group was higher than that in the normal contralateral brain (p < 0.05), MVD of the tumors in the treatment group was less than that in the tumor group (p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and MVD as well as CBV and MVD in the center and periphery of tumors in both groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: A decrease in the perfusion volume of rat C6 brain gliomas was observed during the acute stage following X-knife treatment, and CBF and CBV were positively correlated with MVD of rat C6 brain gliomas. Thus, CT perfusion imaging can be used to evaluate the early changes in tumor microcirculation following radiosurgery.