In vivo magnetomotive ultrasound imaging of rat lymph nodes - a pilot study

Abstract

The drive to gain a better understanding of how diseases arise and how to provide ever-earlier detection are some of the key factors for the development of molecular imaging. Compared to other imaging modalities ultrasound has not received the same attention for molecular imaging mainly due to its limited contrast resolution, together with contrast agents confined to the intravascular space. To overcome these issues, new nano-sized contrast agents and new ultrasound imaging techniques e.g. photo acoustic imaging, have been developed. Another such imaging technique under development is magnetomotive ultrasound imaging (MMUS). We have previously developed a frequency and phase tracking algorithm which is able to detect superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO NPs) using MMUS, where our suggested first clinical application is to detect sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in breast cancer surgery. Recently we have shown detection of SPIO laden rat SLNs in situ. Here we present the feasibility of in vivo detection of SLNs in rats. The algorithm clearly pinpoints the NP laden SLN, even in presence of significant artefactual tissue movement. The magnetomotive displacement increased when a higher voltage was applied on the coil creating the magnetic field (e.g. 56.6% increasing the voltage from 20V to 50V). An uneven concentration distribution of NPs in the SLN was found. The maximum magnetomotive displacement difference between two different cross sections in one SLN was 9.76 times. The study also showed that for a higher concentration of NPs a lower magnetic coil excitation voltage could be used in order to create a magnetomotive displacement of a certain magnitude. The result from this in vivo study shows that the method has potential for future clinical use.