Data from: Comparison of cerebral blood volume and plasma volume in untreated intracranial tumors

Purpose: Plasma volume and blood volume are imaging-derived parameters
that are often used to evaluation intracranial tumors. Physiologically,
these parameters are directly related, but their two different methods of
measurements, T1-dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)- and T2-dynamic
susceptibility contrast (DSC)-MR utilize different model assumptions and
approaches. This poses the question of whether the interchangeable use of
T1-DCE-MRI derived fractionated plasma volume (vp) and relative cerebral
blood volume (rCBV) assessed using DSC-MRI, particularly in glioblastoma,
is reliable, and if this relationship can be generalized to other types of
brain tumors. Our goal was to examine the hypothetical correlation between
these parameters in three most common intracranial tumor types. Methods:
Twenty-four newly diagnosed, treatment naïve brain tumor patients, who had
undergone DCE- and DSC-MRI, were classified in three histologically proven
groups: glioblastoma (n=7), meningioma (n=9), and intraparenchymal
metastases (n=8). The rCBV was obtained from DSC after normalization with
the normal-appearing anatomically symmetrical contralateral white matter.
Correlations between these parameters were evaluated using Pearson (r),
Spearman's (ρ) and Kendall’s tau-b (τB) rank correlation coefficient.
Results: The Pearson, Spearman and Kendall’s correlation between vp with
rCBV were r=0.193, ρ=0.253 and τB=0.33 (p-Pearson=0.326, p-Spearman=0.814
and p-Kendall=0.823) in glioblastoma, r=-0.007, ρ=0.051 and τB=0.135
(p-Pearson=0.970, p-Spearman=0.765 and p-Kendall=0.358) in meningiomas,
and r= 0.289, ρ=0.228 and τB= 0.239 (p-Pearson=0.109, p-Spearman=0.210 and
p-Kendall=0.095) in metastasis. Conclusion: Results indicate that no
correlation exists between vp with rCBV in glioblastomas, meningiomas and
intraparenchymal metastatic lesions. Consequently, these parameters, as
calculated in this study, should not be used interchangeably in either
research or clinical practice.