Xiaoen Wang1, Liang Zhang2,
Michael P. Collins3, Brittany Bahamon3, Sabina
Signoretti3, Michael B. Atkins2, David C. Alsop4,
Rupal S. Bhatt2
1Department of Radiology,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA,
United States; 2Division of Hematology-Oncology & Cancer
Biology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States; 3Department
of Pathology, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
MA, United States; 4Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
This study investigates the relationship between ASL-MRI assessed tumor perfusion and histologic microvessel density (MVD) before and after antiangiogenic therapy in a renal cell carcinoma mouse model. The average tumor perfusion was 67.9 28.2 ml/100g/min (n=27), MVD was 159.9 87.7 vessels/mm2. The correlation between ASL tumor perfusion and MVD was very good (r=0.92). Tumor perfusion was significantly lower in tumors treated with antiangiogenic therapy as compared with that of untreated tumors (49.3 15.0 ml/100g/min vs 102.6 6.0 ml/100g/min, p<0.001). ASL-MRI may serve as an accurate and noninvasive method for mornitoring tumor angiogenesis and response to treatment.