Effect of spectral CT on tumor microvascular angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: To examine the value of energetic-spectrum computed tomography (spectral CT) quantitative parameters in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) microvascular angiogenesis. METHODS: The authors evaluated 32 patients with pathologically confirmed RCC who underwent triple-phase contrast-enhanced CT with spectral CT imaging mode from January 2017 to December 2019. Quantitative parameters include parameters derived from iodine concentration (IC) and water concentration (WC) of 120 keV monochromatic images. All specimens were evaluated including the microvascular density (MVD), microvascular area (MVA) and so on. The correlation between IC and WC (including average values and random values) with microvascular parameters were analyzed with Pearson or Spearman rank correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The MVD of all tumors was 26.00 (15.00–43.75) vessels per field at × 400 magnification. The MVD of RCC correlated positively with the mean IC, mean WC, mean NWC, mean NIC, random IC, random NIC in renal cortical phase, WCD(1), WCD(2), NWCD(2) and ICD(1) (Spearman rank correlation coefficients, r range, 0.362–0.533; all p < 0.05). The MVA of all tumors was (16.16 ± 8.98) % per field at × 400 magnification. The MVA of RCC correlated positively with the mean IC, mean WC, mean NWC, mean NIC, random IC, random NIC in renal cortical, mean WC and mean NWC in renal parenchymal phase, WCD(1), WCD(2), WCD(3), NWCD(2), and NWCD(3) (Pearson or Spearman rank correlation coefficients, r range, 0.357–0.576; all p < 0.05). Microvascular grading correlated positively with the mean NWC, mean NIC and random NIC in renal cortical phase, mean NWC in renal parenchymal phase, NWCD(2), WCD(3), NWCD(3), NICD(2) and NICD(3) (Spearman rank correlation coefficients, r range, 0.367–0.520; all p < 0.05). As for tumor diameter (55.19 ± 19.15), μm, only NWCD(3) was associated with it (Spearman rank correlation coefficients, r = 0.388; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ICD and WCD of spectral CT have a potential for evaluating RCC microvascular angiogenesis. MVD, MVA and microvascular grade showed moderate positive correlation with ICD and WCD. ICD displayed more relevant than that of WCD. The parameters of renal cortical phase were the best in three phases. NICD and NWCD manifested stronger correlation with microvascular parameters than that of ICD and WCD.