Characterizing Patient-specific Tumor-associated Vasculature and Hemodynamics Via Quantitative MRI
Author: Chengyue Wu
Publisher:
Published: 2020
Total Pages: 460
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTumor initiation, growth, and invasion are tightly coupled to the characteristics of the available blood supply. In particular, both the quantity and quality of the blood supply entering and permeating a tumor largely determines its access to nutrients, oxygen, and systemic therapies; therefore, the vasculature plays a central role in proliferation, intratumoral heterogeneity, and treatment response. Thus, rigorous characterization of tumor-associated vascular features, including morphology, hemodynamics and interstitial transport, is of great importance. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a computational-experimental approach for advancing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that quantify blood perfusion and interstitial transport through breast tumors to yield robust diagnostic metrics. Specifically, we propose a novel framework of quantitative MRI analysis that integrates novel characterizations of tumor vasculature and physiology with computational fluid dynamic simulations to determine tumor-associated blood supply and interstitial transport characteristics unique to each patient. This framework is systematically validated and optimized in silico using a dynamic digital phantom and virtual MRI simulation. We show that characterization of tumor-associated vascular morphology and hemodynamics can be achieved on a patient-specific basis, and can assist in the diagnosis of suspicious breast lesions. The results contained in this Dissertation suggest a fundamentally new way to employ MRI for the quantitative evaluation of breast cancer
