Program Information
Exploration of High-Resolution Quantitative Ultrasonic Micro-Vascular Imaging for Early Assessment of Radiotherapy Tumor Response
S Kasoji1 , J Rivera1*, P Dayton1 , J Buse2 , S Chang1,2 , (1) University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill/ North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, (2) UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
Presentations
WE-FG-202-2 (Wednesday, August 3, 2016) 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM Room: 202
Purpose: Currently, we cannot predict an individual patient’s response to a given radiotherapy which normally is not detected for weeks to months post-treatment. As a result, precious time is wasted for patients with unresponsive tumors who could have switched to an alternative treatment much earlier. Presently, no early treatment response detection method exists that is effective, low-cost, non-invasive, and safe. We hypothesize that changes in tumor microvasculature predict tumor response to radiotherapy earlier than tumor volume changes. Recent radiobiology research suggests tumors undergo vascular remodeling in response to radiation well before manifesting changes in tumor volume. We propose monitoring tumor microvasculature post-radiation using Acoustic Angiography (AA), a novel ultrasound imaging modality developed and patented in-house. In this study, we investigate whether changes in tumor microvasculature, measured using AA, can be an early indicator of high-dose radiotherapy success, compared to changes in tumor volume.
Methods: Fibrosarcoma xenograft tumor tissue was subcutaneously implanted into rodent flanks (N=10). Animal tumors (N=8) were irradiated with a single treatment of 15Gy using a clinical LINAC at 100SSD and 2x2cm field size. Two untreated rats were left as tumor controls. AA imaging was performed immediately post-treatment and every third day thereafter for 30 days, or until tumors disappeared. Tumor volumes and vascular densities were measured from anatomical b-mode ultrasound and AA images, respectively.
Results: Statistical differences in vascular density between treatment responders and non-responders were observed on Day 10 (p=0.005), whereas statistical differences in tumor volume were not observed until Day 19 (p=0.02).
Conclusions: Tumor vascularity differences may be observed substantially earlier than differences in tumor size. In addition, significant early increases in vascular density were observed in non-responding tumors. This data is consistent with a similar study we completed using the same tumor and animal models (N=10) at 20Gy.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, through Grant Award Number UL1TR001111. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
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