Identification of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer by Fourier-Transform Infrared...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Medical Imaging
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) improves survival for responders but exposes non-responders to ineffective treatments and adverse events.
• Predicting NAC response is crucial for managing muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate mid-infrared imaging for predicting NAC response in MIBC tissues.
• To identify spectral heterogeneity as a potential biomarker for treatment response.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of trans-urethral resection of bladder tumor samples using mid-infrared imaging.
• Spectral data processing for pixel recognition and response scoring (0-10 scale).
• Histopathological examination for ground truth responder/non-responder classification.

Main Results:

• Mid-infrared imaging revealed significant spectral heterogeneity in tumor tissues, despite apparent histological homogeneity.
• Quantification of heterogeneity and pixel-level scoring enabled the creation of sensitivity and specificity maps.
• Decision criteria were extracted for classifying cancerous samples based on spectral data.

Conclusions:

• This study is the first to demonstrate the potential of mid-infrared imaging for predicting NAC response in MIBC.
• The findings suggest a novel, non-invasive method for personalized treatment selection in bladder cancer.