Nicolas Michoux1, Paolo Simoni1, Bertrand Tombal2, Frank Peeters1, Xavier Banse3, Jean-Pascal Machiels4, Frdric Lecouvet1
1Radiodiagnostic Unit, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 2Laboratory of Cell Physiology, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Brussels; 3Orthopedic Surgery, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 4Oncology Unit, Universit Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
Malignant involvement of bones has significant effects on the blood supply, endothelial permeability and composition of the bone marrow, presumably altering the perfusion of the bone marrow. Therefore, the perfusion in patients with normal bone marrow and in patients with untreated bone metastases of prostate cancer was assessed using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (spoiled 2D single-shot turbo-FLASH sequence with injection of Gd-DTPA) at 1.5T and the extended Kety model. Perfusion parameters Ktrans, ve and vp were significantly lower in healthy persons and may constitute reference values. This technique may provide useful surrogates for monitoring the response to anti-cancer therapy.