Noam Nissan1,
Talia Golan2, Edna Furman Haran3, Sara Apter4,
Yael Inbar4, Dov Grobgeld1, Hadassa Degani5
1Department
of Biological Regulation , Weizmann Institue of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 2Oncology
Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel; 3Biological
Services, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 4The
Division of Diagnostic Imaging, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel; 5Department
of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institue of Science, Rehovot, Israel
The microstructure and physiology of the pancreas is complex. Water diffusion may reveal this complexity. We have, therefore, focused on developing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) protocols and processing means with the aim of detecting changes in the tensor parameters upon malignant growth. Results based on studies of 18 healthy volunteers reveal that the diffusion in the pancreas is highly anisotropic and the tensor diffusion coefficients vary significantly between healthy subjects and within different parts of the pancreas. We predict that changes in the pancreatic microstructure caused by pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma can be detected by DTI.