Description:

Join Dr. Harrison Kim of the University of Alabama Birmingham for a presentation of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI as a non-invasive tool for early evaluation of pancreatic cancer response to therapy. Pancreatic cancer is typically hypo perfused due to significant tumor sclerosis creating elevated interstitial pressure, which compresses tumor feeding vessels.  However, an effective therapy induces acute necrosis, leading to reduced interstitial pressure and consequentially increased perfusion.  DCE-MRI can quantitate tissue perfusion, but the variability in DCE-MRI measurement across different time and scanners remains a major concern.  To address this concern, Dr. Kim developed a point-of-care portable perfusion phantom (P4). The P4 is small enough to be imaged concurrently with a patient in the bore of a standard MRI scanner and is large enough not to suffer from partial volume effects.  Thus MRI system-driven errors can be detected using the P4 during human imaging.  In this seminar, the recent success of testing this device in quantitative DCE-MRI to identify early therapeutic response in pancreatic cancer will be presented. 

Lunch will be provided.