Measurement of Tumor Blood Flow Using Dynamic Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Deconvolution Analysis

Objective: To measure tumor blood flow (TBF) using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). Methods: A DCE-MRI was performed using inversion recovery-preparation fast-field echo sequences. Dynamic data were obtained every 3.2 seconds for 2 minutes, immediately after gadolinium injection. In 14 patients with malignant musculoskeletal tumors, TBF maps were generated pixel-by-pixel by deconvolution analysis. For preclinical studies, muscle blood flow in 5 volunteers and signal intensities of different gadolinium concentrations were measured. Results: There was a good linear relationship between signal intensities and gadolinium concentrations (r = 0.989, P < 0.001, at gadolinium concentrations ≤2 mmol/L). The average value of muscle blood flow in volunteers was 11.1 ± 2.7 mL·100 mL−1·min−1. In 14 patients with musculoskeletal tumors, TBF showed wide variances: the lowest of 9.6 mL·100 mL−1·min−1 in liposarcoma and the highest of 182.0 mL·100 mL−1·min−1 in osteosarcoma. After chemotherapy, the TBF values (7.9, 11.0, and 11.7 mL· 100 mL−1·min−1) in the good responders were lower than those (26.8, 31.0, and 62.4 mL·100 mL−1·min−1) in the poor responders. Conclusions: A functional map of TBF generated by DCE-MRI and deconvolution analysis would be a promising tool for evaluating tumor blood flow in vivo.