The blood tumour barrier in intracranial tumours studied with X-ray computed tomography and positron emission tomography using 68-Ga-EDTA.

Disruption of the blood brain barrier or rather blood tumour barrier in cerebral tumours was studied with CT after intravenous injection of contrast medium and with PET after intravenous administration of 68-Ga-EDTA. Histology from stereotactic biopsies or open surgery is compared with the radiologic findings and advantages of the respective methods are discussed. The material consisted of 47 patients mainly with supratentorial gliomas and a few miscellaneous tumours. Astrocytomas (Kernohan grade II) were found to have no disruption of blood tumour barrier while anaplastic astrocytomas and glioblastomas (Kernohan grade III and IV) had. PET is somewhat superior to CT in detection of disruption of the blood tumour barrier. It is concluded that the combination of CT and PET is of value in the assessment of intracranial tumours.