Quantitative Ultrasound Analysis of Vascular Morphology for Cancer Assessment

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There are several features of ultrasound imaging that make it attractive to clinicians and preclinical researchers, including its relatively low cost, rel-time imaging capability, safety, and portability. For example, ultrasound imaging is widely used for anatomical imaging and blood flow measurements in the heart and large vessels. Ultrasound, however, is typically not used in oncology because it has relatively poor quantitative capability with respect to tumor morphology or malignancy. In our Phase I work, we demonstrated that our new contrast-enhanced dual-frequency ultrasound technologies ("Acoustic Angiography") can capture detailed in vivo images of tissue vasculature in animal models of breast cancer, and we have shown that vascular morphology is an indicator of tumor malignancy in those animal models. That work built upon our prior vessel analysis research and algorithms that showed that quantifiable vascular morphology metrics from Magnetic Resonance Imaging data are reliable predictors of tumor malignancy and response to therapy in humans. In the proposed Phase II work, we will conduct the research necessary for the commercialization of our acoustic angiography system for preclinical research. The team has been expanded to include SonoVol, the manufacturer of ultrasound systems for preclinical research. We will research and evaluate methods to ensure that our commercial system will be easy to use and consistently produce effective measures of tumor malignancy and response to therapy. We will validate the product in a blinded study of breast cancer treatment efficacy in support of a preclinical trial, i.e., the targeted commercial use for the proposed system.