Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 21, 2026
Non-invasive Imaging and Analysis of Cerebral Ischemia in Living Rats Using Positron Emission Tomography with 18F-FDG
Published on: December 28, 2014
Diffuse gliomas exhibit whole brain impaired cerebrovascular reactivity
Jorn Fierstra1, Christiaan van Niftrik1, Marco Piccirelli2
1Department of Neurosurgery, Clinical Neuroscience Center, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Purpose:
Cerebral diffuse gliomas exhibit perilesional impaired cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), yet the degree of impairment as well as its full spatial extent in the brain remains unknown. With quantitative fMRI, we studied twelve subjects with untreated brain diffuse glioma and twelve healthy controls to assess CVR impairment and determine its distribution throughout the brain.
Methods:
In a prospective case-control study, quantitative CVR measurements were derived from BOLD fMRI volumes during standardized iso-oxic changes in carbon dioxide. Whole brain CVR was assessed with additional detailed analyses using specific tumor and tissue masks and compared to datasets of healthy controls.
Results:
Whole brain CVR was significantly impaired compared to healthy controls (0.11±0.10 versus 0.28±0.8, p<0.01). All diffuse glioma patients exhibited even more severely impaired intralesional CVR (mean 0.01±0.06). Increasing tumor volume significantly correlated with severity of intralesional CVR impairment (p<0.05, R2=0.38), and whole brain CVR impairment (p<0.05, R2=0.55).
Conclusion:
Patients with brain diffuse glioma exhibit intralesional and whole brain impaired CVR with severity correlating to tumor volume. Quantitative fMRI may be entertained to study antitumor therapy efficacy by tracking CVR changes and may have a complementary role to better interpret BOLD associated neurovascular uncoupling.
