Non-Invasive Imaging of Normalized Solid Stress in Cancers in vivo

Non-Invasive Imaging of Normalized Solid Stress in Cancers in vivo

Non-Invasive Imaging of Normalized Solid Stress in Cancers in vivo 780 422 IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (JTEHM)

  
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Non-Invasive Imaging of Normalized Solid Stress in Cancers in vivo
The solid stress (SSg) that develops inside a cancer is an important marker of the cancer’s growth, invasion and metastasis. Currently, there are no non-invasive methods to image SSg inside tumors. In this paper, we develop a new, non-invasive and cost-effective imaging method to assess SSg inside tumors that uses ultrasound poroelastography. Center to the proposed method is a novel analytical model, which demonstrates that SSg and the compression-induced stress (SSc) that generates inside the cancer in a poroelastography experiment have the same spatial distribution. To show the clinical feasibility of the proposed technique, we imaged and analyzed the normalized SSg inside treated and untreated human breast cancers in a small animal model. Given the clinical significance of assessing SSg in cancers and the advantages of the proposed ultrasonic methods, our technique can have a great impact on cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment methods.