Noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging of the development of individual colon cancer tumors in rat liver

Autor: Olaf R.F. Mook, Ard Jonker, Aart C. Strang, Andor Veltien, Giulio Gambarota, Wilma M. Frederiks, Arend Heerschap, Cornelis J.F. Van Noorden
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2008
Předmět:
Zdroj: BioTechniques, Vol 44, Iss 4, Pp 529-535 (2008)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1940-9818
0736-6205
88123464
DOI: 10.2144/000112695
Popis: Monitoring tumor development is essential for the understanding of mechanisms involved in tumor progression and to determine efficacy of therapy. One of the evolving approaches is longitudinal noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumors in experimental models. We applied high-resolution MRI at 7 Tesla to study the development of colon cancer tumors in rat liver. MRI acquisition was triggered to the respiratory cycle to minimize motion artifacts. A special radio frequency (RF) coil was designed to acquire detailed T1-weighted and T2-weighted images of the liver. T2-weighted images identified hyperintense lesions representing tumors with a minimum diameter of 2 mm, enabling the determination of growth rates and morphological aspects of individual tumors. It is concluded that high-resolution MRI using a dedicated RF coil and triggering to the respiratory cycle is an excellent tool for quantitative and morphological analysis of individual diffusely distributed tumors throughout the liver. However, at present, MRI requires expensive equipment and expertise and is a time-consuming methodology. Therefore, it should preferably be used for dedicated applications rather than for high-throughput assessment of total tumor load in animals.
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