Correlation of the relationships of brain-tumor interfaces, magnetic resonance imaging, and angiographic findings to predict cleavage of meningiomas

PubMedID: 10470811Object. The authors examined the relationships of brain-tumor interfaces, specific magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features, and angiographic findings in meningiomas to predict tumor cleavage and difficulty of resection. Methods. Magnetic resonance imaging studies, angiographic data, operative reports, clinical data, and histopathological findings were examined retrospectively in this series, which included 126 patients with intracranial meningiomas who underwent operations in which microsurgical techniques were used. The authors have identified three kinds of brain-tumor interfaces characterized by various difficulties in microsurgical dissection: smooth type, intermediate type, and invasive type. The signal intensity on T1-weighted MR images was very similar regardless of the type of brain-tumor interface (p > 0.1). However, on T2-weighted images the different interfaces seemed to correlate very precisely with the signal intensity and the amount of peritumoral edema (p < 0.01), allowing the prediction of microsurgical effort required during surgery. On angiographic studies, the pial-cortical arterial supply was seen to participate almost equally with the meningeal- dural arterial supply in vascularizing the tumor in 57.9% of patients. Meningiomas demonstrating hypervascularization on angiography, particularly those fed by the pial-cortical arteries, exhibited significantly more severe edema compared with those supplied only from meningeal arteries (p < 0.01). Indeed, a positive correlation was found between the vascular supply from pial-cortical arteries and the type of cleavage (p < 0.05). Conclusions. In this analysis the authors proved that there is a strong correlation between the amount of peritumoral edema, hyperintensity of the tumor on T2-weighted images, cortical penetration, vascular supply from pial-cortical arteries, and cleavage of the meningioma. Therefore, the consequent difficulty of microsurgical dissection can be predicted preoperatively by analyzing MR imaging and angiographic studies

Trapidil, an inhibitor for phosphodiesterase and platelet-derived-growth factor, ameliorates corrosive esophageal burn in rats

WOS: 000232286600004PubMed: 16210831Corrosive esophageal burn is a common health problem in the pediatric age group and causes serious esophageal injuries. The medical treatment In acute phase of corrosive esophageal injury is of particular importance for prevention of esophageal stricture. We therefore aimed to investigate the possible beneficial effect of trapidil (triazolopyrimidine), an inhibitor for phosphodiesterase and platelet-derived-growth-factor, during acute phase of esophageal corrosive injury. Wistar albino rats were randomly allocated to untreated, treated, and sham-operated groups (n = 10 for each group). Corrosive esophageal burn was generated with 10% NaOH solution. The rats were left untreated (untreated group) or treated with trapidil as a single dose of 40 mg/kg intraperitoneally after one hour of the injury (treated group). Abdominal esophageal segment was isolated and tied in sham-control group. The studied esophageal segment was removed from each animal after 24 hours. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured in the esophageal tissues. The ulcer depth was graded by histopathologic examination. MDA and NO levels were significantly higher in the untreated group than in the treated group. Namely, trapidil treatment significantly decreased MDA and NO levels in the injured tissues, the levels of which are similar to those in the tissues of control animals. The grades of ulcer depth were significantly improved in the treated group. These results indicate that the reactive oxygen radicals increase in the early phase of corrosive esophagitis and cause tissue damage. We suggest that trapidil treatment may be useful in acute phase of corrosive esophageal injury