The ICR researchers found that MR elastography provided extra details about tumour structure and density in addition to the information about growth and size given by standard MRI scans.
Study co-leader Dr Simon Robinson, Team Leader in Magnetic Resonance at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:
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"Our research shows that this new type of scan can give valuable diagnostic information about breast and pancreatic tumours non-invasively by assessing their stiffness. If confirmed in a clinical trial, we could use this technique to identify patients most likely to benefit from treatments that target the dense scaffold upon which these tumours grow. It gives us a new way of looking at cancers, and a potential way to monitor new treatments that alleviate tumour stiffness in order to help enhance the efficient delivery and uptake of chemotherapy."
Study co-leader Dr Yann Jamin, Children with Cancer UK Research Fellow and Senior Researcher in the Magnetic Resonance team, at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:
"There's a lot of research activity centred on finding new therapies designed to help anti-cancer drugs reach their target in breast and pancreatic cancers, which can be so stiff and dense that they are impenetrable.
"We are very excited to have found a rapid scan that can be incorporated into a current routine clinical MRI examination and can potentially monitor the effects of these new tumour-weakening therapies, and assist the development and delivery of medicines which could save or extend lives."
Natasha Paton at Cancer Research UK said:
"Some tumours, like breast and pancreatic, are stiff and dense. Because of this, drugs are unable to reach deep inside the tumour and the cancer becomes harder to treat. Results of this pre-clinical study in mice show that using elastography to measure stiffness alongside standard imaging scans may help doctors deliver treatments more effectively to cancers that are known for their stiffness.
"Specialist imaging techniques have made a huge contribution to improving the way doctors diagnose, monitor and treat people with cancer, and it will be interesting to see if these results can be translated to the clinic."
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