IMMEDIATE POSTOPERATIVE CT CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT FOLLOWING SURGERY OF CEREBRAL TUMORAL LESIONS

Purpose: Our goal was to evaluate the immediate postoperative contrast enhancement behavior of cerebral lesions and to gain further informat ion about contrast enhancement in patients under general anesthesia. M ethod: In the early postoperative period, CT scans with and without co ntrast medium were performed in 46 patients. The time interval between surgery and postoperative CT imaging ranged from 1 to 7.5 h (mean 4 h ). Nineteen patients were under general anesthesia during CT investiga tion. Results: In the early postoperative period, contrast medium leak age into the tumor resection cavity was noted In 14 patients (30%). An other phenomenon that was observed was the appearance of a strong dema rcation and distinct contrast of gray against white matter in 24 patie nts (52%). This characteristic, global contrast enhancement of the cer ebral cortex, occurred in 17 of 19 patients (89%) investigated under g eneral anesthesia. Conclusion: In immediate postoperative CT scans, co ntrast medium leakage due to extravasation of contrast medium into the tumor resection cavity can be detected early. Moreover, a global cont rast enhancement of the cerebral cortex can be detected as a frequent pattern in patients investigated under general anesthesia.