Imaging the Progression of Intra-tumor Heterogeneity in Prostate and Ovarian Xenografts Using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced CT

• Published in: 2005 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference Vol. 2005; pp. 1883 - 1886
• Main Authors: Stantz, K.M., Yun Liang, Xiong Li, Chingai Kao, Steinmetz, R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 2005
• Subjects: Adhesives; Bioinformatics; Biomedical imaging; Blood flow; Cancer; Computed tomography; Fluids and secretions; Genomics; Neoplasms; Radiology
• ISBN: 0780387414; 9780780387416
• ISSN: 1094-687X; 1557-170X; 1558-4615
• DOI: 10.1109/IEMBS.2005.1616818

The purpose of this study is to measure the progressive intra-tumor heterogeneous physiological states for prostate (CWRrv) and ovarian (SKOV3x) xenograft mouse models. Dynamic contrast-enhanced CT was used to measure the change in a tumor's physiological state when transitioning from stage I (<7 mm diameter) to stage II (7-20 mm diameter). Images from stage I tumors are in the initial stages of angiogenesis: neovasculature growth. A radial heterogeneity begins to form with signs of angiogenic activity throughout the tumor. Stage II tumors develop both a saccular heterogeneity and a strong radial heterogeneity between periphery and core consistent with the effects of inflammatory and maturation processes. Imaging intra-tumor heterogeneity has the potential to track tumor stage and to be used as predictive factor in determining mortality rates