Medical Imaging Research Group (MIRG)

Clinical Cancer Research Paper Published

Congratulations to PhD candidates Hexuan (April) Wang (first author), Rifat Ahmed, and Solumtochukwu (Somto) Nwabunwanne, undergraduate researcher Reem Mislati, and Professor Marvin Doyley on the publication of their manuscript titled "Elastography can map the local inverse relationship between shear modulus and drug delivery within the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma microenvironment." The article has been e-published by Clinical Cancer Research and can be found here. Research collaborators at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College who co-authored the paper are Phuong Vincent, Jason Gunn, and Professor Brian Pogue.

The article describes how elastography was used to investigate how shear modulus influences drug delivery in situ, and how it correlates with collagen density, hyaluronic acid content, and patent vessel density, features of the tumor microenvironment known to influence tissue pressure. High tissue pressure prevents chemotherapeutics from reaching the core of pancreatic tumors. Therefore, targeted therapies have been developed to reduce this pressure. Results demonstrated that elastography could guide targeted therapy and/or identify patients with highly elevated tissue pressure.