Correlation of CT-Directed Target Site with Histology and Cell Culture in Cerebral Glioma

The Brown-Roberts-Wells stereotactic system has been used to remove multiple samples from both the tumour centre and the CT-enhanced edge of intracranial tumours in 44 patients. Histological studies indicate that there is considerable variation between biopsies taken from select spatial sites within a single tumour. The tissue culture studies, using the coverslip overlay explant technique, will ultimately provide fundamental information on the biological variability of human gliomas. Although there was histological variation between multiple samples taken from a single tumour, in many cases the enhancing edge of the tumour was found to be free of infiltrating tumour cells, suggesting that radical local treatment may be warranted for tumour control.