Lung cancer perfusion at multi-detector row CT: reproducibility of whole tumor quantitative measurements

Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this study. The aim of the study was to prospectively assess, in patients with lung cancer, the reproducibility of a quantitative whole tumor perfusion computed tomographic (CT) technique. Paired CT studies were performed in 10 patients (eight men, two women; mean age, 66 years) with lung cancer. Whole tumor permeability and blood volume were measured, and reproducibility was evaluated by using Bland-Altman statistics. Coefficient of variation of 9.49% for permeability and 26.31% for blood volume and inter- and intraobserver variability ranging between 3.30% and 6.34% indicate reliable assessment with this whole tumor technique.