Endoenteric Balloon Coils for Improved MR Imaging of the Pancreas and Upper GI Tract

 描述（由申请人提供）：胰腺病变的准确表征是一个困难且具有临床重要性的问题。胰腺实质性肿瘤如腺癌通常很难与肿块型胰腺炎或其他良性实质性病变相鉴别。良性 囊性病变如假性囊肿或浆液性囊腺瘤通常不能与恶性囊性病变区分。胰腺很难活检，只能通过内窥镜从胃或十二指肠进行细针抽吸。由于这些原因，许多不确定的胰腺病变，特别是囊性病变，随后与系列成像。提高胰腺MRI的分辨率和SNR可以早期发现胰腺病变的恶性征象，以及更准确地描述胰腺肿瘤的血管侵犯，以制定正确的手术计划。该提案旨在开发新型局部RF线圈，该线圈部署在可膨胀球囊上，可在小口径导管内推进到胃或十二指肠中，并在胰头或胰体附近部署。这些局部线圈可以提供比传统MRI线圈更好的SNR和分辨率，以更好地表征胰腺病变。该项目的成功完成将增强MRI提供高分辨率MR图像的能力，从而更好地帮助临床医生可视化、诊断、分期和监测胰腺病变。具体地，胰腺的高分辨率成像将使得能够1）改进边缘可切除病例的识别，2）识别较小的可切除病例。 病变; 3）胰腺囊性病变的特征。增加的信号灵敏度还将增强扩散和灌注加权成像、弹性成像的益处，并且可以使得能够采用新的脉冲序列，诸如造影剂的药代动力学分析或用于胰腺病变识别、表征和管理的分子成像和光谱学。该工具不仅可以通过改善患者护理使患者受益，而且可以帮助研究人员更好地了解胰腺癌的病因和生物学，并有助于增加及时有效诊断和治疗恶性肿瘤的机会。最后，同样的技术可以用于食道、胃、十二指肠和胰腺的组织成像。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate characterization of pancreatic lesions is a difficult and clinically important problem. Solid pancreatic tumors such as adenocarcinoma are often difficult to distinguish from mass-forming pancreatitis or other benign solid lesions. Benign cystic lesions such as pseudocysts or serous cystadenomas often cannot be distinguished from malignant cystic lesions. The pancreas is difficult to biopsy and amenable only to fine needle aspiration from the stomach or duodenum via endoscopy. For these reasons, many indeterminate pancreatic lesions, especially cystic lesions, are followed with serial imaging. Improved resolution and SNR in pancreas MRI could result in earlier detection of signs of malignancy in pancreatic lesions, as well as more accurate depiction of vascular invasion of pancreatic tumors for correct surgical planning. This proposal is to develop novel local RF coils deployed on an inflatable balloon that can be advanced into the stomach or duodenum within a small caliber catheter and deployed next to the pancreatic head or body. These local coils can give better SNR and resolution than conventional MRI coils, for better characterization of pancreatic lesions. Successful completion of this project will enhance the ability of MRI to provide high-resolution MR images that better aid the clinician in visualizing, diagnosing, staging, and monitoring pancreatic lesions. Specifically, high resolution imaging of the pancreas will enable 1) improved identification of marginally resectable cases, 2) identification of smaller lesions, and 3) characterization of cystic pancreatic lesions. The increased signal sensitivity wil also enhance the benefits of diffusion and perfusion weighted imaging, elastography, and may enable novel pulse sequences to be employed such as pharmacokinetic analysis of contrast agents or molecular imaging and spectroscopy for use in pancreatic lesion identification, characterization, and management. This tool will not only benefit the patient specifically through improved patient care, but should aid the researcher in developing a better understanding of the etiology and biology of pancreatic cancer and help to increase the chances for a timely and effective diagnosis and treatment of malignancy. Finally, this same technology could be used to image the tissues of the esophagus, the stomach, duodenum and pancreas.