MICROREGIONAL FLUCTUATIONS IN PERFUSION WITHIN HUMAN TUMORS-DETECTED USING LASER-DOPPLER FLOWMETRY

Purpose: Transient fluctations in erythrocyte flux consistent with per fusion driven hypoxia have been previously reported using experimental tumour models. The present study was designed to establish whether su ch changes are a common feature of human tumours. Methods and Material s: A multi-channel laser Doppler system was used to monitor microregio nal changes in flow in human tumours. Eight individual tumours were in vestigated, two primary and one locally recurrent breast carcinoma, tw o metastatic skin deposits and three metastatic lymph nodes. Six custo m designed microprobes (diameter of 300 am), each monitoring a nominal sampling volume of approximately 10(-2) mm(3) were inserted into the tumour and perfusion monitored over a period of 60 min. Results: The r esults show that in 54% of the regions monitored there was a change in microregional blood flow by a factor of 1.5 or more. Over the whole 6 0-min period, 19% of the changes were reversed, with a time course of 4-44 min. Conclusions: This finding demonstrates that microregional fl uctuations in perfusion occur frequently in human tumours. Furthermore , the observation that 19% of the changes were reversed implies that a t least some of the cells are subject to transient acute hypoxia.