Yue Zhang1,2, Yang Guo2, Jodi
Nicolai2, Rachel A. Klein2, Reed A. Omary2,3,
Andrew C. Larson2,3
1Bioengineering, University
of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 2Radiology,
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States; 3Robert H.
Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL,
United States
Irreversible electroporation (IRE) has been applied as a novel tissue ablation modality; IRE involves application of short-lived electrical fields across the cell membrane to permanently increase membrane permeability leading to cell death. MRI measurements have been used to intra-procedurally monitor tissue response immediately after IRE in normal hepatic parenchyma. The purpose of this study was to determine whether conventional T1- or T2-weighted MRI measurements are similarly effective for monitoring tissue response in liver tumors using the rodent N1-S1 hepatoma model. Our study showed conventional T1W, T2W MRI measurements are poorly reflective of IRE ablation zones in tumor tissues. Future studies are necessary to develop new imaging approaches better able to specifically detect signal alterations due cell membrane permeablization in targeted tumor tissues.