Prediction of tumor doubling time in recurrent meningiomas

Abstract

✓ Eight patients with recurrent meningiomas (four malignant, two hemangiopericytic, and two nonmalignant) were given intravenous bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR), 200 mg/sq m, at the time of surgery to label cells in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis phase; labeled cells were detected in excised tumor specimens by immunoperoxidase staining using anti-BUdR monoclonal antibody. These tumors showed a wide range of BUdR labeling indices (LI's), calculated as the percentage of BUdR-labeled cells divided by the total number of cells scored, from 0.3% to 5.4%. The tumor doubling times (Td's), estimated from serial computerized tomography scans, ranged from 8 to 440 days and showed a close inverse correlation with the BUdR LI's. A semilogarithmic linear regression analysis of these values yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.99. Tumor doubling time (Td) can be estimated using the formula: Td = 500 × Exp (−0.73 × LI), where Exp signifies the natural log base. By predicting the growth rate of meningiomas, the BUd...