Noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging of the development of individual colon cancer tumors in rat liver.
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.
Mook
Olaf R F
OR
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jonker
Ard
A
Strang
Aart C
AC
Veltien
Andor
A
Gambarota
Giulio
G
Frederiks
Wilma M
WM
Heerschap
Arend
A
Van Noorden
Cornelis J F
CJ
D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D047368:Tumor Burden