Wesseling P, van der Laak J A, de Leeuw H, Ruiter D J, Burger P C
Department of Pathology, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
J Neurosurg. 1994 Dec;81(6):902-9. doi: 10.3171/jns.1994.81.6.0902.
Because histologically prominent microvascular proliferation is frequently present in glioblastoma multiforme, it has been hypothesized that this neoplasm is particularly dependent on neovascularization for its continued growth and that antiangiogenic therapy might be especially useful. To quantify the histological aspects of microvascular proliferation in glioma, a feasible and reproducible method was developed for computer-assisted image analysis of the visualized microvasculature in glial tissue. This method was used to compare several vascular parameters in histological whole-tumor sections of untreated human glioblastoma multiforme with those in histologically normal cerebral cortex and white matter. There was a significant increase in mean number, area, and perimeter of blood vessels per microscopic field in glioblastoma multiforme compared to normal cerebral white matter. In a substantial number of tumor fields, however, the vascular density was in the same range as that of normal cerebral white matter. The striking heterogeneity of the microvasculature within glioblastoma multiforme was illustrated by the significantly higher standard deviation for the vascular parameters in tumor tissue. The results of this study suggest that many regions of glioblastomas multiforme are not overtly angiogenesis dependent and may be difficult to treat by antiangiogenic therapy alone.
由于多形性胶质母细胞瘤中经常出现组织学上显著的微血管增殖，因此有人推测这种肿瘤的持续生长特别依赖于新生血管形成，并且抗血管生成疗法可能特别有用。为了量化胶质瘤中微血管增殖的组织学特征，开发了一种可行且可重复的方法，用于对胶质组织中可视化的微血管进行计算机辅助图像分析。该方法用于比较未经治疗的人类多形性胶质母细胞瘤组织学全肿瘤切片与组织学正常的大脑皮质和白质中的几个血管参数。与正常脑白质相比，多形性胶质母细胞瘤中每个显微镜视野的血管平均数量、面积和周长显著增加。然而，在相当数量的肿瘤区域中，血管密度与正常脑白质处于相同范围。肿瘤组织中血管参数的标准差显著更高，这说明了多形性胶质母细胞瘤内微血管的显著异质性。这项研究的结果表明，多形性胶质母细胞瘤的许多区域并非明显依赖血管生成，可能难以仅通过抗血管生成疗法进行治疗。
