Development of imaging diagnosis system for oral cancer utilizing lesion-integrated nanobubbles and high frequency ultrasound

本研究的目的是开发一种利用高频超声和纳米气泡进行口腔癌诊断的实时成像系统。为了评估高频超声成像分析对口腔癌的诊断准确性，我们建立了一个与人类淋巴结肿胀大小相似的重组小鼠近交品系。因此，在转移性淋巴结中，通过增强的渗透性和保留（EPR）效应，纳米泡明显渗漏并整合到病变的血管周围区域。这一发现表明，使用高频超声和纳米气泡进行图像分析对诊断淋巴结转移病变非常有用。

The purpose of the present study is to develop a real-time imaging system using high frequency ultrasound and nanobubbles for the diagnosis of oral cancer. In order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the high-frequency ultrasonic imaging analysis for oral cancer, we established a recombinant inbred strain of mouse showing a similar size of lymph node swelling as that of human. As a result, in the metastatic lymph nodes,it became clear that nanobubbles leake and integrate into the perivascular region of the lesion by enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. This finding suggests that the image analysis using high-frequency ultrasound and nanobubbles isextremely useful in diagnosis of the metastatic lesions in the lymph node.