Development of preclinical ultrasound imaging techniques to identify and image sentinel lymph nodes in a cancerous animal model

Bacou, M. et al. (2022) Development of preclinical ultrasound imaging techniques to identify and image sentinel lymph nodes in a cancerous animal model. Cancers, 14(3), 561. (doi: 10.3390/cancers14030561) (PMID:35158829) (PMCID:PMC8833694)

Abstract

Lymph nodes (LNs) are believed to be the first organs targeted by colorectal cancer cells detached from a primary solid tumor because of their role in draining interstitial fluids. Better detection and assessment of these organs have the potential to help clinicians in stratification and designing optimal design of oncological treatments for each patient. Whilst highly valuable for the detection of primary tumors, CT and MRI remain limited for the characterization of LNs. B-mode ultrasound (US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can improve the detection of LNs and could provide critical complementary information to MRI and CT scans; however, the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) guidelines advise that further evidence is required before US or CEUS can be recommended for clinical use. Moreover, knowledge of the lymphatic system and LNs is relatively limited, especially in preclinical models. In this pilot study, we have created a mouse model of metastatic cancer and utilized 3D high-frequency ultrasound to assess the volume, shape, and absence of hilum, along with CEUS to assess the flow dynamics of tumor-free and tumor-bearing LNs in vivo. The aforementioned parameters were used to create a scoring system to predict the likelihood of a disease-involved LN before establishing post-mortem diagnosis with histopathology. Preliminary results suggest that a sum score of parameters may provide a more accurate diagnosis than the LN size, the single parameter currently used to predict the involvement of an LN in disease.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: This research was funded by CRUK-grant numbers A23333/24730 and Program Award DRCPGM\100012 (S.M.F.).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mulvana, Dr Helen and Moug, Ms Susan and Sjostrand, Miss Sandra

Creator Roles

Sjostrand, S.: Methodology, Writing – review and editing
Moug, S.: Writing – review and editing
Mulvana, H.: Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Bacou, M., Rajasekaran, V., Thomson, A., Sjöstrand, S., Kaczmarek, K., Maria Ochocka-Fox, A., Gerrard, A. D., Moug, S., Jansson, T., Mulvana, H., Moran, C. M., and Farrington, S. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Cancers
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2072-6694
• ISSN (Online): 2072-6694
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2022 by the authors
• First Published: First published in Cancers 14(3): 561
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence
• Data DOI: 10.15129/556fadaf-3068-484d-8971-836ccf6e0d63