Quantification of tumor vessels in glioblastoma patients using time-of-flight angiography at 7 Tesla: a feasibility study.

Abstract

PurposeTo analyze if tumor vessels can be visualized, segmented and quantified in glioblastoma patients with time of flight (ToF) angiography at 7 Tesla and multiscale vessel enhancement filtering.Materials and methodsTwelve patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma were examined with ToF angiography (TR = 15 ms, TE = 4.8 ms, flip angle = 15°, FOV = 160 × 210 mm(2), voxel size: 0.31 × 0.31 × 0.40 mm(3)) on a whole-body 7 T MR system. A volume of interest (VOI) was placed within the border of the contrast enhancing part on T1-weighted images of the glioblastoma and a reference VOI was placed in the non-affected contralateral white matter. Automated segmentation and quantification of vessels within the two VOIs was achieved using multiscale vessel enhancement filtering in ImageJ.ResultsTumor vessels were clearly visible in all patients. When comparing tumor and the reference VOI, total vessel surface (45.3 ± 13.9 mm(2) vs. 29.0 ± 21.0 mm(2) (pDiscussionToF angiography at 7-Tesla MRI enables characterization and quantification of the internal vascular morphology of glioblastoma and may be used for the evaluation of therapy response within future studies.