Spectral computed tomography in advanced gastric cancer: Can iodine concentration non-invasively assess angiogenesis?

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the patients (n = 34)

Sex	Male	23	67.65%
	Female	11	32.35%
Age	30 -73 yr (56 ± 3.7 yr)
Size	1.5 -13.0 cm (median 4.0 cm)
Tumor location	Cardia/Fundus	14	41.18%
	Gastricum	9	26.47%
	Antrum	11	32.35%
Nodal status	N0	11	32.35%
	N1	8	23.53%
	N2	7	20.59%
	N3	8	23.53%
Depth of invasion	pT2	5	14.71%
	pT3	2	5.89%
	pT4a	22	64.71%
	pT4b	5	14.71%
Lauren subtype	Intestinal type	15	44.12%
	Mixed type	7	20.59%
	Diffuse type	12	35.29%
Histological grading	Highly differentiated	1	2.38%
	Moderately differentiated	16	47.06%
	Poorly differentiated	17	50.00%

Table 2 Correlation of nIC values, microvessel density and vascular endothelial growth factor expression

Varieties	MVD		VEGF
	r	P value	r	P value
nIC-AP	0.423	0.013a	0.170	0.358
nIC-VP	0.606	0.000a	0.311	0.073
MVD	1.000		0.210	0.233

^aP < 0.05. nIC-AP: Normalized iodine concentration in arterial phase; nIC-VP: Normalized iodine concentration in venous phase; MVD: Microvessel density; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.

Table 3 Correlations between bi-phase normalized iodine concentration and microvessel density in different clinical-pathological subgroups

Varieties	n	nIC-AP vs MVD		nIC-VP vs MVD
		r	P value	r	P value
Depth of invasion
< T4	7	0.851	0.015a	0.600	0.154
T4	27	0.370	0.057	0.656	0.000a
Nodal status
N0	11	0.620	0.042a	0.600	0.051
N1-3	23	0.330	0.124	0.644	0.001a
Histologic differentiation
Highly and Moderately differentiated	17	0.250	0.334	0.190	0.466
Poorly differentiated	17	0.427	0.087	0.799	0.000a
Lauren subtype
Intestinal type	15	0.222	0.427	0.101	0.719
Mixed type	7	0.741	0.057a	0.827	0.022a
Diffuse type	12	0.145	0.653	0.765	0.004a
Tumor location
Cardia/Fundus	14	0.311	0.279	0.760	0.796
Gastricum	9	0.385	0.307	0.507	0.163
Antrum	11	0.616	0.044a	0.891	0.000a
Sex
Male	23	0.385	0.070	0.606	0.002a
Female	11	0.696	0.017a	0.605	0.049

^aP < 0.05. nIC-AP: Normalized iodine concentration in arterial phase; nIC-VP: Normalized iodine concentration in venous phase; MVD: Microvessel density.

Table 4 Difference of bi-phase normalized iodine concentration between different clinical-pathological subgroups

Varieties	n	nIC-AP		nIC-VP
		mean ± SD	P value	mean ± SD	P value
Depth of invasion
< T4	7	0.101 ± 0.042	0.195	0.363 ± 0.079	0.302
> T4	27	0.120 ± 0.031		0.392 ± 0.063
Nodal status
N0	11	0.112 ± 0.033	0.321	0.385 ± 0.085	0.923
N1-3	23	0.125 ± 0.035		0.387 ± 0.057
Histologic differentiation
Highly and moderately differentiated	17	0.100 ± 0.028	0.003a	0.352 ± 0.048	0.001a
Poorly differentiated	17	0.132 ± 0.031		0.421 ± 0.065
Lauren subtype
Intestinal type	15	0.099 ± 0.029	0.016a	0.347 ± 0.048	0.006a
Mixed type	7	0.120 ± 0.032		0.417 ± 0.061	0.0131a
Diffuse type	12	0.135 ± 0.030	0.0052a	0.417 ± 0.067	0.002a
Tumor location
Cardia/Fundus	14	0.109 ± 0.033	0.445	0.385 ± 0.046	0.874
Gastricum	9	0.128 ± 0.024		0.387 ± 0.064
Antrum	11	0.116 ± 0.040		0.387 ± 0.091
Sex
Male	23	0.113 ± 0.033	0.377	0.390 ± 0.069	0.633
Female	11	0.124 ± 0.035		0.378 ± 0.062

¹One-way ANOVA-LSD, mixed type vs intestinal type;

²Diffuse type vs intestinal type.

^aP < 0.05. nIC-AP: Normalized iodine concentration in arterial phase; nIC-VP: Normalized iodine concentration in venous phase; MVD: Microvessel density; SD: Standard deviation.