Samata Kakkad1, Desmond Jacob1, Marie-France Penet1,2, Jiangyang Zhang 1, Kristine Glunde1,2, and Zaver M. Bhujwalla1,2
1JHU ICMIC program, Division of Cancer Imaging Research, The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, 2Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
The dense desmoplastic stroma present in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) limits the delivery of diagnostic imaging probes and therapeutic agents leading to poor prognosis of PDAC from a combination of late-stage diagnosis and limited response to chemotherapy. Collagen 1 (Col1) fibers form a major component of this desmoplastic stroma. By combining noninvasive diffusion MRI with optical imaging we characterized the relationship between Col1 fibers and diffusion MRI in PDAC. A good correlation was observed between Col1 fibers and diffusion MRI parameters providing a rationale for detecting PDAC with diffusion MRI, and characterizing the relationship between Col1 fibers and diffusion MRI.
