fMRI Assessment of Pancreatic Cancer Differentiates Living from Dead Tumor Cells

Utilizing a rabbit model of pancreatic cancer that allows for arterial catheterization, researchers tested the theory that sophisticated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could be used to evaluation regional differences in tumor function in this model. They found that the two types of functional MRI technologies evaluated (diffusion-weighted MRI and transcatheter intraarterial perfusion MRI) could be used to differentiate living tumor cells from dead tumor cells and thus can be used to assess tumor viability.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (the disease typically referred to as pancreatic cancer) carries the worst prognosis of any cancer. As current treatments offer minimal benefit, completely new approaches are needed. Given the effectiveness of local therapies, as opposed to intravenous systemic therapies, for liver diseases (such as hepatocellular carcinoma), it is believed that similar local therapies may benefit patients with pancreatic cancer. To develop such therapies, it would be useful to design targets that are easy to obtain and can indicate the efficacy of these new therapies in models of pancreatic cancer.

This research was led by Dr. Robert Lewandowski and colleagues at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, IL, USA), and the study's findings were published in the July 14, 2010, issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Many models of pancreatic cancer currently exist, but this research is the first to evaluate functional MRI in the VX2 rabbit model of pancreatic cancer studied in this study. According to the investigators using these findings, it may be possible in the future to assess therapeutic efficacy in this animal model using fMRI as opposed to more invasive techniques such as biopsy or necropsy.

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Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine