title: Characterization of a rat orthotopic pancreatic head tumor model using three-dimensional and quantitative multi-parametric MRI.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of 3D isotropic MRI and quantitative multi-parametric MRI characterization on an orthotopic pancreatic head tumor model in rats. 3D isotropic T2-weighted MRI was performed as a routine for tumor longitudinal follow-up and volume estimation. Common bile duct diameter was measured from 3D multiplanar reconstruction. Quantitative multi-parametric measurements including pixel-wise T2, T1relaxivity, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and apparent diffusion kurtosis mapping were performed twice throughout tumor growth. Semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses based on an extended Tofts model were applied to region-of-interest-based dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, followed by contrast ratio measurement on standard contrast-enhanced imaging. Moreover, low-level texture-based analysis was inspected for T2, T1, ADC and contrast ratio measurements. Results indicated that multi-parametric MRI showed good reproducibility for tumor characterization; the measurements were not affected by tumor growth. Tumor growth was further confirmed with histology examinations. To conclude, state-of-the-art clinical MRI techniques were translated to this preclinical tumor model with high reliability, and have paved the way for translational oncology studies on this tumor model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yuanbo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yewei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dymarkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Himmelreich
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yicheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: diffusion kurtosis; extended Tofts model; histogram Shannon entropy; isotropic 3D imaging; pancreatic head tumor; rats; relaxivity mapping; reproducibility