Non-invasive tumour blood perfusion measurement by 2H magnetic resonance

Deuterium uptake into foot-implanted C3H murine mammary carcinomas was measured non-invasively by 2H NMR spectroscopy at 46 MHz after i.v. injection. The arterial input function (AIF) was estimated from 2H NMR measurements with a second radiofrequency coil externally located over the heart. Tumour and heart data were acquired over the same time period by means of a switch automatically activated every 1.6-3.2 s. Although the AIF data were, in general, partly contaminated by signals from adjacent tissue, a mathematical fitting procedure involving simultaneous fitting of the AIF and the tumour kinetics gave robust results for tumour blood perfusion (TBP): up to four repeat TBP measurements were made in 14 out of 20 untreated animals and TBP could be measured before and after treatment in 14 out of 15 animals. The ability of this technique to measure changes in blood perfusion was assessed using hydralazine, which decreased TBP from 91 to 29 ml 100 g(-1) min(-1) and this was comparable to a 70% reduction in relative TBP measured by laser Doppler flowmetry.