Spectroscopic Assessment of Chemotherapy Efficacy (SPACE)
Aim of the project uitklapper, klik om te openen
To find a biomarker that can predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy early on in the course of treatment, the biomarkers obtained before and after the first cycle (out of 6) of chemotherapy are compared to the pathological response after completion of chemotherapy and surgery. At this stage, this research has no influence on the treatment of the patient.
The goal of the project is early assessment of the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy before surgery) for breast cancer patients. Patients will undergo 2 additional MRI scans on the 7 Tesla MR scanner, one before and one after the first cycle of chemotherapy. The MRI examination includes 31Phosphor Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (31P-MRS), Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI (DCE), Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) and Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST), which all provide unique biomarkers related to tumour metabolism, vasculature, morphology and microenvironment respectively.
The images before (first column) and after (second column) one cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) are shown. A) Shows a DCE image with region of interest for 31P-MRS and CEST together with the 31P-MRS spectrum in the tumor. B) Shows an overlay of ADC maps of the tumor over a coronal view of the DCE series. C) A CEST spectrum of the tumor is shown before (blue) and after (red) the first cycle of NAC and also of healthy tissue in the same breast (green). D) MR scanner with volunteer on breast coil.