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Capillary physiology of human medulloblastoma
Author(s) -
Warnke Peter C.,
Kopitzki Klaus,
Timmer Jens,
Ostertag Christoph B.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.22212
Subject(s) - medulloblastoma , vascular permeability , medicine , chemotherapy , blood flow , nuclear medicine , permeability (electromagnetism) , pathology , chemistry , biochemistry , membrane
Abstract BACKGROUND Advances in the treatment of medulloblastoma have largely been attributed to the introduction of chemotherapy, although Phase III trials have shown advantages for chemotherapy only in subgroups. Because the efficacy of chemotherapy depends on tumor vascularization, the vascular physiology of human medulloblastomas was evaluated. METHODS Seven patients with histologically proven medulloblastomas underwent measurements of capillary permeability and vascular plasma volume using contrast‐enhanced dynamic computer tomography. Regional blood flow was measured in 5 patients using xenon computed tomography (CT). RESULTS The capillary permeability‐surface product for water‐soluble compounds ranged from 1.7 ± 5.5 to 17.6 ± 12.3 μL/g/min with a mean of 10.5 ± 6.3 μL/g/min. The vascular plasma volume ranged from 0.02 ± 0.021 to 0.045 ± 0.049 mL/g with a mean of 0.03 ± 0.01 mL/g. The efflux rate ranged from 0.012 ± 0.007 to 0.065 ± 0.064 1/min with a mean of 0.039 ± 0.020 1/min. Regional tumoral blood flow showed a mean of 19.86 ± 6.8 mL/100g/min as compared with normal cerebellum with 45.4 ± 12.03 mL/100g/min ( P < .005). CONCLUSIONS The current study demonstrated a low capillary permeability and blood flow in medulloblastomas that could explain the limited response rates of partially resected tumors even after aggressive high‐dose chemotherapy, as recently reported. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.