MRI contrast agent concentration and tumor interstitial fluid pressure

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Medical Physics
• Oncology

Background:

• Tumor interstitial fluid pressure (TIFP) significantly impacts drug delivery and treatment efficacy.
• Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is crucial for characterizing tumor microenvironments.
• Quantifying TIFP is essential for understanding tumor pathophysiology but remains challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a relationship between TIFP and contrast agent concentration in DCE-MRI.
• To develop a practical method for predicting the spatial distribution of TIFP.
• To explore TIFP estimation using DCE-MRI parameters like interstitial volume fraction (ve) and transfer constant (Ktrans).

Main Methods:

• Modeling the spatial distribution of TIFP based on contrast agent concentration data from DCE-MRI.
• Investigating the correlation between linear fluid velocity distribution and quadratic TIFP distribution.
• Proposing measurement strategies along the direction of linear fluid velocity for simplified TIFP calculation.

Main Results:

• A linear fluid velocity distribution can correspond to a quadratic TIFP distribution.
• Measuring parameters along the fluid velocity direction simplifies TIFP estimation.
• The proposed method offers a practical approach to TIFP calculation in tumors.

Conclusions:

• DCE-MRI data can be utilized to predict TIFP spatial distribution.
• A simplified method for TIFP estimation is presented, leveraging fluid dynamics principles.
• This work provides a foundation for improved non-invasive TIFP assessment in oncology.