2018 News Archive
"Tissue Stiffness is a 'Mosh Pit' Where Cancer Cells Thrive"
December 6, 2018
Research results recently published in Clinical Cancer Research were promoted in an interesting URMC news story. Click here to view this story which highlights work by PIRL team members Marvin Doyley, Hexuan (April) Wang, Rifat Ahmed, Solumtochukwu (Somto) Nwabunwanne, and Reem Mislati.
Continue ReadingClinical Cancer Research Paper Published
October 23, 2018
Congratulations to PhD candidates Hexuan (April) Wang (first author), Rifat Ahmed, and Solumtochukwu (Somto) Nwabunwanne, undergraduate researcher Reem Mislati, and Professor Marvin Doyley on the publication of their manuscript titled "Elastography can map the local inverse relationship between shear modulus and drug delivery within the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma microenvironment." The article has been e-published by Clinical Cancer Research and can be found here. Research collaborators at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College who co-authored the paper are Phuong Vincent, Jason Gunn, and Professor Brian Pogue.
The article describes how elastography was used to investigate how shear modulus influences drug delivery in situ, and how it correlates with collagen density, hyaluronic acid content, and patent vessel density, features of the tumor microenvironment known to influence tissue pressure. High tissue pressure prevents chemotherapeutics from reaching the core of pancreatic tumors. Therefore, targeted therapies have been developed to reduce this pressure. Results demonstrated that elastography could guide targeted therapy and/or identify patients with highly elevated tissue pressure.
Ahmed Paper Published
August 1, 2018
Congratulations to PhD candidate Rifat Ahmed and Professor Marvin Doyley on the publication of their manuscript titled "Plane-wave imaging improves single-track location shear wave elasticity imaging." The article can be found in the August 2018 issue of IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control and can be found here. Co-authors of this article are Dr. Scott Gerber (URMC Department of Microbiology and Immunology) Professor Stephen A. McAleavey (UR Department of Biomedical Engineering), Dr. Giovanni Schifitto (URMC Department of Neurology)
The article describes phantom and excised murine pancreatic tumor studies using a novel technique called plane-wave single-track location shear wave elasticity imaging (pSTL-SWEI). The results indicated that pSTL-SWEI can probe deeper depths since it is more resistant to shear wave attenuation than traditional STL-SWEI. Further, the superior elastographic contrast-to-noise ratio of pSTL-SWEI will enhance the clinical utility of SWEI by enabling clinicians to perform SWEI with smaller push beam spacing and less intense push beams.
Nayak/Schifitto/Doyley Paper Published
May 16, 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Rohit Nayak, Dr. Giovanni Schifitto (URMC Neurology Department), and Professor Marvin Doyley on the publication of their manuscript titled "Visualizing angle-independent principal strains in the longitudinal view of the carotid artery: phantom and in vivo evaluation." The article will appear in the July 2018 issue of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology and can be found here. Dr. Nayak received his PhD at the University of Rochester under Professor Doyley's supervision; he is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Radiology at the Mayo Clinic.
The article describes results of phantom and in vivo studies which revealed that principal strain elastograms computed using compounded plane wave imaging could reliably visualize angle-independent vascular strains in the longitudinal plane of the carotid artery.