Selective Sensitivity of Diffusion-Weighted MRI to Various Length Scales in Tumors Following Treatment

Junzhong Xu¹, John C. Gore¹

Many practical anti-cancer treatments induce tumor microstructural variations at both supra- and subcellular levels, and detecting changes across different length scales is likely to provide more comprehensive information about tumor status. In this study, we used histology-based simulations and imaging in vivo of mouse xenografts to demonstrate the importance of probing various length scales of tumors. The results suggest that, in order to obtain comprehensive information about tumor status or to maximum the sensitivity for monitoring tumor response to treatment, diffusion measurements with a broad range of diffusion times may be necessary