Perfusion analyses in advanced breast carcinoma during hyperthermia

Blood flow in tumours and healthy tissue determines the ability of obtaining satisfactory temperature distributions in clinical hyperthermia, as well as the success of hyperthermia and radiation treatment. During the hyperthermia treatment, diagnostic data related to tissue blood flow can be determined by analysing the relationship between the amount of power absorbed in the tissue and the resulting temperature rise. The interpretation of the perfusion data (PERF) is highly complicated by the lack of an adequate theory to describe the heat transport in vascularized tissues. In vascularized breast tissues about 10 times as much power is needed to maintain therapeutic temperatures as is necessary in a stationary breast phantom. This large difference in maintenance power levels indicates the extreme importance of blood flow in tissue heat transport. PERF has been determined in 23 patients with advanced breast tumours. In this series (a) perfusion typically did not change during the stationary part of the individual hyperthermic sessions, (b) minimum tumour PERF was not related to tumour volume, and (c) there was no relation between tumour PERF and the ability to heat tumours. PERF can both increase and decrease after successful hyperthermia.