Abstract
Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) has been proposed as a powerful tool for cancer diagnosis by estimation of perfusion and dispersion parameters reflecting angiogenic vascular changes. This work was aimed at identifying which vascular features are reflected by the estimated perfusion and dispersion parameters through comparison with acoustic angiography (AA). AA is a high-resolution technique that allows quantification of vascular morphology. Three-dimensional AA and 2-D DCE-US bolus acquisitions were used to monitor the growth of fibrosarcoma tumors in nine rats. AA-derived vascular properties were analyzed along with DCE-US perfusion and dispersion to investigate the differences between tumor and control and their evolution in time. AA-derived microvascular density and DCE-US perfusion exhibited good agreement, confirmed by their spatial distributions. No vascular feature was correlated with dispersion. Yet, dispersion provided better cancer classification than perfusion. We therefore hypothesize that dispersion characterizes vessels that are smaller than those visible with AA.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 539-548 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2019 |
Funding
This work was supported by European Research Council Starting Grant 280209 and the Impulse2 program within TU/e and Philips. This work was also supported by Grants R01CA170665 , R43CA165621 and R01CA189479 from the National Institutes of Health .
Keywords
- Acoustic angiography
- Cancer
- Dispersion
- Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound
- Perfusion
- Ultrasound contrast agents
- Angiography/methods
- Imaging, Three-Dimensional/methods
- Rats, Inbred F344
- Rats
- Ultrasonography/methods
- Acoustics
- Animals
- Contrast Media
- Image Enhancement/methods
- Fibrosarcoma/blood supply
- Disease Models, Animal