Diagnostic value of CT perfusion for parotid gland tumors

Objectives: To determine whether CT perfusion was valuable in differentiating benign tumors from malignant ones in the parotid gland. Methods: Fifty-three parotid gland tumors, 35 benign and 18 malignant, in 49 patients were included in this study. All the tumors were confirmed histopathologically and examined with CT perfusion before the operations. The parameters of CT perfusion, blood flow (BF: ml x 100g (-1) x min (-1)), blood volume (BV: ml/100g), mean transmit time (MTT: s) and permeability surface (PS: ml x 100g (-1) x min (-1)) were evaluated. The Wilcoxon sign test, a nonparameters test for paired data were used to determine the statistical differences of parameters between the benign and malignant tumors. Results: The mean values / mean scores of BF, BV, MTT and PS were 139.85/22.94, 17.16/23.63, 13.27/29.31 and 24.38/22.91 respectively in benign tumors, versus 231.69/34.89, 32.22/35.50, 11.40/22.50 and 38.28/34.94 respectively in malignant tumors. Except MTT, the differences of BF, BV and PS between benign and malignant tumors were statistically significant (p<0.01). Conclusions: On the basis of results of this study, the parameters of CT perfusion, BF, BV and PS, were valuable in differentiating benign and malignant tumors of the parotid gland.