Contrast-enhanced intravascular ultrasound imaging of vascular invasion

描述（由申请人提供）：胰腺癌是最致命的癌症之一，只有不到5%的诊断患有这种疾病的患者存活超过5年。虽然一些患者可以通过手术切除治疗，但在许多个体中，肿瘤在初步诊断时已经侵入主要血管，因此被认为是不可切除的。肿瘤血管浸润通常通过磁共振成像（MRI）或计算机断层扫描（CT）的诊断成像来确定。然而，MRI和CT都表现出对这项任务的敏感性差，导致未经治疗的患者比例很高。本研究提出了一种替代成像方法，该方法使用微创血管内超声设备对肿瘤血管系统和体循环中的血流进行实时成像。最近的研究表明，专用超声换能器能够对微泡造影剂的非线性振荡进行高分辨率、高灵敏度成像。通过设计、制造和测试血管内超声探头和伴随的微泡造影剂，该转化研究项目将展示一种以高空间分辨率真实的时间成像血流动力学的方法，使其成为第一种能够捕获肿瘤血管侵袭的成像技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer of the pancreas is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with less than 5% of patients diagnosed with this disease surviving more than 5 years. While some patients may be treated with surgical resection, in many individuals tumors have invaded the major blood vessels by the time of initial diagnosis and thus are considered unresectable. Tumor vascular invasion is commonly determined via diagnostic imaging with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT). However, both MRI and CT have demonstrated poor sensitivity for this task, resulting in high rates of untreated patients. This research proposes an alternative imaging approach which uses a minimally-invasive intravascular ultrasound device to image blood flow in both tumor vasculature and systemic circulation in real-time. Recent research has demonstrated that specialized ultrasound transducers are capable of high resolution, highly sensitive imaging of non-linear oscillations of microbubble contrast agents. By designing, fabricating, and testing an intravascular ultrasound probe and an accompanying microbubble contrast agent, this translational research project will demonstrate an approach for imaging blood flow dynamics in real time with high spatial resolution, making it the first imaging technology capable of capturing tumor vascular invasion.