Alterations of cerebral microcirculation in peritumoral edema: feasibility of in vivo sidestream dark-field imaging in intracranial meningiomas

Background: Intracranial meningiomas display a variable amount of peritumoral brain edema (PTBE), which can significantly impact perioperative morbidity. The role of microcirculatory disturbances in the pathogenesis of PTBE is still debated. The aim of this study was to microscopically demonstrate and intraoperatively quantify, for the first time, the alterations to microcirculation in PTBE using sidestream dark-field (SDF) imaging.

Methods: Adult patients with WHO grade I meningiomas were recruited over a 9-month period and divided into 2 groups depending on the absence (NE group) or the presence (E group) of PTBE. In vivo intraoperative microcirculation imaging was performed in the peritumoral area before and after microsurgical resection.

Results: Six patients were included in the NE group and 6 in the E group. At the baseline in the NE group, there was a minor decrease in microcirculatory parameters compared to normal reference values, which was probably due to the mass effect. In contrast, microcirculatory parameters in the E group were significantly altered, affecting both vessel density and blood flow values, with a drop of approximately 50% of normal values. Surgical resection resulted in a quasi-normalization of microcirculation parameters in the NE group, whereas in the E group, even if all parameters statistically significantly improved, post-resection values remained considerably inferior to those of the normal reference pattern.

Conclusion: Our study confirmed significant alterations of microcirculatory parameters in PTBE in meningiomas. Further in vivo SDF imaging studies may explore the possible correlation between the severity of these microcirculatory alterations and the postoperative neurological outcome.