Abstract #0423

Amide Proton Transfer Imaging of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound-Treated Tumor Tissue

Stefanie J.C.G. Hectors¹, Igor Jacobs¹, Gustav J. Strijkers¹, Klaas Nicolay¹

¹Biomedical NMR, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands

The effects of HIFU treatment on tumor APT intensity were assessed in a murine tumor model. Regions with decreased APT intensity were observed after HIFU treatment. These regions correlated spatially to areas of non-viable, necrotic tumor tissue observed in histology. Analysis of the tumor APT intensity distribution showed a pronounced shift towards lower APT intensity values after HIFU. The fractions of pixels within the defined HIFU-related APT intensity range (-10 to -2%) significantly increased by HIFU treatment. These results suggest that APT imaging may serve as a new biomarker for identification of HIFU-treated tumor tissue.