Usefulness of Volume Perfusion Computed Tomography in Differentiating Histologic Subtypes of Thymic Epithelial Tumors

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of volume perfusion computed tomography (VPCT) parameters in differentiating the World Health Organization subtypes of thymic epithelial tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the local ethics committee, and informed written consent was obtained. Fifty-one thymic epithelial tumor patients confirmed by histopathological analysis underwent conventional CT and a 48-second VPCT scan of the tumor bulk before any treatment. The VPCT parameters (blood volume [BV], blood flow [BF], mean transit time [MTT], and permeability [PMB]) based on volume of interest (VOI) or region of interest (ROI) were compared for differences among low-risk thymomas (LRTs; types A, AB, and B1), high-risk thymomas (HRTs; types B2 and B3) and thymic carcinomas (TCs) by one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: The BVVOI, PMBVOI, BVROI, and PMBROI values in LRT were significantly higher than the values from HRT and thymic carcinoma (BVVOI: 13.75, 6.17, and 5.48 mL/100 mL; PMBVOI: 22.47, 9.56, and 13.37 mL/100 mL/min; BVROI: 14.75, 6.87, and 6.06 mL/100 mL; PMBROI: 24.05, 9.79, and 15.63 mL/100 mL/min, respectively; all P 0.05/3). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that VPCT could be useful in differentiating LRTs from HRTs and TCs preoperatively.