Restricted Water Diffusion in Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Pancreatic Cancer is Associated with Tumor Hypoxia.

ABSTRACT: Hypoxia is a hallmark of pancreatic cancer (PDAC) due to its compact and extensive fibrotic tumor stroma. Hypoxia contributes to high lethality of this disease, by inducing a more malignant phenotype and resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. Thus, non-invasive methods to quantify hypoxia could be helpful for treatment decisions, for monitoring, especially in non-resectable tumors, or to optimize personalized therapy. In the present study, we investigated whether tumor hypoxia in PDAC is reflected by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI), a functional imaging technique, frequently used in clinical practice for identification and characterization of pancreatic lesions. DW-MRI assesses the tissue microarchitecture by measuring the diffusion of water molecules, which is mo

SUBMITTER: Mayer P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7801953 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature