Functional CT imaging of angiogenesis in rabbit VX2 soft-tissue tumour

Functional parameters such as blood flow (BF), microvessel permeability surface area product (PS), blood volume (BV) and mean transit time (MTT) are physiological markers related to the changes associated with angiogenesis. In the current study we present a functional CT technique for the simultaneous measurement of these four functional parameters and the display of each parameter as a functional image over an entire tissue slice. New Zealand White rabbits with implanted VX2 thigh tumours were scanned using CT with contrast media injection. The ex vivo method of radioactive microspheres was used to evaluate the accuracy of BF measurements with the functional CT technique. There was a significant linear correlation (R = 0.96) between regional CT and microsphere-measured BF values, with a slope not significantly different from unity (0.98 +/- 0.02, P < 0.0001). The precision of our CT technique was determined by the repeated scanning under steady-state conditions. The precision of CT-measured BF, PS. BV and MTT was 14%, 18%, 20% and 24%, respectively. In conclusion, BF can be measured accurately and BF, PS, BV and MTT reproducibly using our functional CT technique. Functional CT can be readily incorporated into existing imaging protocols to assess tumour angiogenesis.