Stephanie B. Donaldson1,2, Guy Betts3,
Suzie C. Bonington4, Catharine M.L West3, Lucy E.
Kershaw2, David L. Buckley, 2,5
1North Western Medical Physics,
Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom; 2Imaging
Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester,
United Kingdom; 3Academic Department of Radiation Oncology,
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; 4Department
of Radiology, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom; 5Division
of Medical Physics, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Dynamic
contrast-enhanced (DCE-) MRI using a two-compartment exchange model (2CXM)
can provide estimates of perfusion (Fb), microvessel
permeability-surface area (PS), interstitial volume (ve) and blood
volume (vb). DCE-MRI parameters correlate with VEGF expression, an
initiator of angiogenesis and prognostic indicator, in a variety of tumours.
Eight patients with head-and-neck cancer underwent high temporal-resolution
DCE-MRI before surgery. Whole-tumour concentration-time curves were analysed
using the 2CXM to estimate Fb, PS, ve, vb
and plasma mean transit time. VEGF mRNA expression was measured at surgery. Fb,
ve and PS correlated significantly with VEGF expression suggesting
that DCE-MRI parameters may be indicative of angiogenesis.
Keywords