INTRAOPERATIVE MEASUREMENT OF PERITUMORAL REGIONAL CORTICAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW

Peritumoral regional cortical blood flow (rCoBF) was studied intraoper atively using thermal diffusion flowmetry. Histology included glioblas tomas (n=5), anaplastic astrocytoma (n=1), pilocytic astrocytomas (n=2 ), metastatic melanoma (n=1), and trigeminal schwannoma (n=1). Pre-res ection rCoBF values were low in all but two tumors where perfusion was in the low normal range. Post-resection rCoBF values were either low or normalized. Seizure activity was documented in a pilocytic astrocyt oma with a significant rCoBF increase during resection. Our findings i ndicate that hypoperfusion in the cortex adjacent to malignant brain t umors is the result of primary metabolic failure and tumor pressure is chemia.