Research on Perfusion CT in Rabbit Brain Tumor Model

We investigated the vascular characteristics of tumors and normal tissue using perfusion CT in the rabbit brain tumor model. The VX2 carcinoma concentration of 1 x 107 cells/ml(0.1 ml) was implanted in the brain of nine New Zealand white rabbits (weight: 2.4 kg-3.0 kg, mean: 2.6 kg). The perfusion CT was scanned when the tumors were grown up to 5 mm. The tumor volume and perfusion value were quantitatively analyzed by using commercial workstation (advantage windows workstation, AW, version 4.2, GE, USA). The mean volume of implanted tumors was 316±181 mm3, and the biggest and smallest volumes of tumor were 497 mm3 and 195 mm3, respectively. All the implanted tumors in rabbits are single-nodular tumors, and intracranial metastasis was not observed. In the perfusion CT, cerebral blood volume (CBV) were 74.40±9.63, 16.8±0.64, 15.24±3.23 ml/100g in the tumor core, ipsilateral normal brain, and contralateral normal brain, respectively (p≤0.05). In the cerebral blood flow (CBF), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brains (p≤0.05), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains (962.91±75.96 vs. 357.82±12.82 vs. 323.19±83.24 ml/100g/min). In the mean transit time (MTT), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brains (p≤0.05), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains (4.37±0.19 vs. 3.02±0.41 vs. 2.86±0.22 sec). In the permeability surface (PS), there were significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains (47.23±25.44 vs. 14.54±1.60 vs. 6.81±4.20 ml/100g/min)(p≤0.05). In the time to peak (TTP) were no significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains. In the positive enhancement integral (PEI), there were significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral brains (61.56±16.07 vs. 12.58±2.61 vs. 8.26±5.55 ml/100g). (p≤0.05). In the maximum slope of increase (MSI), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brain(), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains (13.18±2.81 vs. 6.99±1.73 vs. 6.41±1.39 HU/sec). Additionally, in the maximum slope of decrease (MSD), there were significant differences between the tumor core and contralateral normal brain(p≤0.05), but no significant differences between the tumor core and ipsilateral normal brain(4.02±1.37 vs. 4.66±0.83 vs. 6.47±1.53 HU/sec). In conclusion, the VX2 tumors were implanted in the rabbit brain successfully, and stereotactic inoculation method make single-nodular type of tumor that was no metastasis in intracranial, suitable for comparative study between tumors and normal tissues. Therefore, perfusion CT would be a useful diagnostic tool capable of reflecting the vascularity of the tumors.