Tumor Angiogenesis & Vasculature MRI with Endogenous BOLD Effect

Kejia Cai¹, Adam Shore¹, Anup Singh¹, Mohammad Haris¹, Damodar Reddy¹, Hari Hariharan¹, Mark Elliott¹, Ravinder Reddy¹

Tumor angiogenesis is the primary facilitator of rapid tumor growth and metastasis. Current MRI techniques using endogenous contrast cannot provide sufficient sensitivity for high-resolution imaging of tumor vasculature. In this study, we use hypoxic challenge to generate sufficient BOLD contrast (~40%), with which high-resolution tumor vasculature maps were able to be obtained. 3D high-resolution tumor vasculature maps can be acquired in minutes. This technique allows us to quantify tumor size, measure tumor vasculature density, provide early detection of tumor metastasis, monitor the effectiveness of cancer treatment drugs, and could potentially characterize tumor grade and aggressiveness.