Immediate Postoperative CT Contrast Enhancement Following Surgery of Cerebral Tumoral Lesions

PURPOSE: Our goal was to evaluate the immediate postoperative contrast enhancement behavior of cerebral lesions and to gain further information about contrast enhancement in patients under general anesthesia. METHOD: In the early postoperative period, CT scans with the without contrast medium were performed in 46 patients. The time interval between surgery and postoperative CT imaging ranged from 1 to 7.5 h (mean 4 h). Nineteen patients were under general anesthesia during CT investigation. RESULTS: In the early postoperative period, contrast medium leakage into the tumor resection cavity was noted In 14 patients (30%). Another phenomenon that was observed was the appearance of a strong demarcation and distinct contrast of gray against white matter in 24 patients (52%). This characteristic, global contrast enhancement of the cerebral cortex, occurred in 17 of 19 patients (89%) investigated under general anesthesia. CONCLUSION: In immediate postoperative CT scans, contrast medium leakage due to extravasation of contrast medium into the tumor resection cavity can be detected early. Moreover, a global contrast enhancement of the cerebral cortex can be detected as a frequent pattern in patients investigated under general anesthesia.