Pre-clinical breast cancer therapeutic response monitoring using harmonic motion imaging and functional ultrasound

In addition to anatomical changes, mechanical properties and vascularization of breast tumors also alter in response to chemotherapeutic treatment. Early detection of non-responders to the treatment is critical for starting new chemotherapeutic regimens for improved tumor therapeutic response and overall survival of the patient. In this study, we used harmonic motion imaging which is an ultrasound elasticity imaging technique to monitor chemotherapy-induced stiffness changes of breast tumors in a xenograft mouse model. Alterations in tumor vasculature and angiogenesis were measured using functional ultrasound imaging that maps microvasculature with high spatial resolution and sensitivity. Preliminary results indicate the potential for combination of HMI and fUS for breast tumor chemotherapeutic response prediction and monitoring.