ABSTRACT
A patient with cerebral metastases, treated with radiotherapy, underwent serial gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging. The MR images were quantified using home developed software to evaluate the changes in volumes of tumor mass and edema after radiotherapy (mean precision of the quantification technique less than 5%). The decrease in tumor volume and edema observed after radiotherapy preceded clinical improvement. The presented technique can be used to accurately assess, more directly than using clinical scales, the effect of putative therapies.
Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms/secondary , Carcinoma, Bronchogenic/secondary , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/secondary , Laryngeal Neoplasms/pathology , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Brain Edema/etiology , Brain Edema/pathology , Brain Neoplasms/complications , Brain Neoplasms/pathology , Brain Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Carcinoma, Bronchogenic/complications , Carcinoma, Bronchogenic/pathology , Carcinoma, Bronchogenic/radiotherapy , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/complications , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/radiotherapy , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
To investigate the preservation of endothelial function, we perfused two segments of one rabbit femoral artery (n = 8) in a pressure myograph in parallel, both with Tyrode, but one with 0.6% albumin added. The change in the outer diameter of the vessels [preconstricted with norepinephrine (NE) to 70%] in response to acetylcholine as an indicator of the endothelial function, was repeatedly measured over 5 h after the equilibration. The difference between the acetylcholine responses of the two vessel segments was significant (p < 0.05) after a perfusion period of 4 h. We also investigated whether flow-induced constriction is dependent on (1) the presence of endothelium and (2) the level of preconstriction. We therefore perfused segments of rabbit femoral arteries (n = 5) with Tyrode with 0.6% albumin. If acetylcholine-induced dilatation was present, a flow-diameter relation was determined at two constriction levels: about 60% (high) and 90% (low) of the passive outer diameter. Both determinations were repeated after mechanical endothelium removal (checked functionally and histologically). A similar decrease in diameter (about 7%) with an increase in flow ranging from 0 to 1,330 microliters/min was found in all conditions. We conclude that the addition of (0.6%) albumin protects endothelial function in the rabbit femoral artery when perfused in the low-flow range for a period longer than 4 h. We also found that flow-dependent constriction is neither influenced by the presence of the endothelium nor by the level of tone induced with NE.
