Comparison of cerebral blood volume and vascular permeability from dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging with glioma grade.

Objective: Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and vascular permeability (K(trans)) permit in vivo assessment of glioma microvasculature. We assessed the associations between rCBV and K(trans) derived from dynamic, susceptibility-weighted, contrast-enhanced (DSC) MR imaging and tumor grade and between rCBV and K(trans).

Methods: Seventy-three patients with primary gliomas underwent conventional and DSC MR imaging. rCBVs were obtained from regions of maximal abnormality for each lesion on rCBV color maps. K(trans) was derived from a pharmacokinetic modeling algorithm. Histopathologic grade was compared with rCBV and K(trans) (Tukey honestly significant difference). Spearman and Pearson correlation factors were determined between rCBV, K(trans), and tumor grade. The diagnostic utility of rCBV and K(trans) in discriminating grade II or III tumors from grade I tumors was assessed by logistic regression.

Results: rCBV was significantly different for all three grades (P

Conclusions: rCBV with strongly correlated with tumor grade; the correlation between K(trans) and tumor grade was weaker. rCBV and K(trans) were positively but weakly correlated, suggesting that these parameters demonstrate different tumor characteristics. rCBV is a more significant predictor of high-grade glioma than K(trans).