Summary
Malignant brain tumours contain focal hypoxic areas that may increase their resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Following surgical excision, the peri-tumoural area will contain residual viable tumour cells, and this area is therefore the logical site for subsequent therapy. The new bioreductive agents are metabolized under hypoxic conditions to produce a cytotoxic species. Peroperative peri-tumoural micro-polarographic measurments have been made to establish the oxygen environment of this region and to determine whether the hypoxic conditions might allow for bioreductive drug activation. The micro-polarographic method is described and results are presented for “normal” white matter (8 patients) to allow comparison with peri-tumoural brain (8 patients) before and after removal of the tumour. The results suggest that peri-tumoural brain (median pO2 10.8 mmHg, 18% pO2 < 2.5 mmHg) is markedly hypoxic in comparison with the “normal” brain (median pO2 15.3 mmHg, less than 2% < 2.5 mmHg), and that surgery improves peri-tumoural oxygenation towards that of the “normal” white matter. It is concluded that the hypoxic peri-tumoural area can provide the conditions under which bioreductive agents may be activated.
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag
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Cruickshank, G.S., Rampling, R. (1994). Peri-Tumoural Hypoxia in Human Brain: Peroperative Measurement of the Tissue Oxygen Tension Around Malignant Brain Tumours. In: Ito, U., et al. Brain Edema IX. Acta Neurochirurgica, vol 60. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-9334-1_101
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-9334-1_101
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