Background and objective: Greene strain melanoma was implanted into the irides of eight nonpigmented rabbits to evaluate the blood flow in tumor vasculature.
Materials and methods: Conventional scanning laser ophthalmoscopy was used in conjunction with fluorescent microsphere angiography (FMA). Changes were documented on SVHS videotape for later analysis. Individual microsphere movement was tracked through the tumor vessels. Subsequently, blood velocity measurements were taken.
Results: The tumor vessels were poorly organized and inefficient. Tumor blood velocity was up to 2.5 times slower compared with normal blood velocity in the unaffected iris of the same eye of the same rabbit (P = .05). Tumor blood flow could be qualitatively visualized in real time in the liver rabbit model.
Conclusion: The ability to visualize fluorescent microspheres within the poorly organized tumor vasculature coupled with the reduced blood velocity in the tumor helps to explain the success of hyperthermic tumoricidal therapy, and may allow for development of more efficient and selective drug delivery systems and tumoricidal agents.