Feasibility of Intraoperative Breast MRI and the Role of Prone Versus Supine Positioning in Surgical Planning for Breast-Conserving Surgery.

We assessed the feasibility of supine intraoperative MRI (iMRI) during breast-conserving surgery (BCS), enrolling 15 patients in our phase I trial between 2012 and 2014. Patients received diagnostic prone MRI, BCS, pre-excisional supine iMRI, and postexcisional supine iMRI. Feasibility was assessed based on safety, sterility, duration, and image-quality. Twelve patients completed the study; mean duration = 114 minutes; all images were adequate; no complications, safety, or sterility issues were encountered. Substantial tumor-associated changes occurred (mean displacement = 67.7 mm, prone-supine metric, n = 7). We have demonstrated iMRI feasibility for BCS and have identified potential limitations of prone breast MRI that may impact surgical planning.

Intraoperative Supine Breast MR Imaging to Quantify Tumor Deformation and Detection of Residual Breast Cancer: Preliminary Results.

Purpose To use intraoperative supine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to quantify breast tumor deformation and displacement secondary to the change in patient positioning from imaging (prone) to surgery (supine) and to evaluate residual tumor immediately after breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Materials and Methods Fifteen women gave informed written consent to participate in this prospective HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board-approved study between April 2012 and November 2014. Twelve patients underwent lumpectomy and postsurgical intraoperative supine MR imaging. Six of 12 patients underwent both pre- and postsurgical supine MR imaging. Geometric, structural, and heterogeneity metrics of the cancer and distances of the tumor from the nipple, chest wall, and skin were computed. Mean and standard deviations of the changes in volume, surface area, compactness, spherical disproportion, sphericity, and distances from key landmarks were computed from tumor models. Imaging duration was recorded. Results The mean differences in tumor deformation metrics between prone and supine imaging were as follows: volume, 23.8% (range, -30% to 103.95%); surface area, 6.5% (range, -13.24% to 63%); compactness, 16.2% (range, -23% to 47.3%); sphericity, 6.8% (range, -9.10% to 20.78%); and decrease in spherical disproportion, -11.3% (range, -60.81% to 76.95%). All tumors were closer to the chest wall on supine images than on prone images. No evidence of residual tumor was seen on MR images obtained after the procedures. Mean duration of pre- and postoperative supine MR imaging was 25 minutes (range, 18.4-31.6 minutes) and 19 minutes (range, 15.1-22.9 minutes), respectively. Conclusion Intraoperative supine breast MR imaging, when performed in conjunction with standard prone breast MR imaging, enables quantification of breast tumor deformation and displacement secondary to changes in patient positioning from standard imaging (prone) to surgery (supine) and may help clinicians evaluate for residual tumor immediately after BCS. © RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

High-resolution renal perfusion mapping using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in ischemia-reperfusion injury monitors changes in renal microperfusion.

Alterations in renal microperfusion play an important role in the development of acute kidney injury with long-term consequences. Here we used contrast-enhanced ultrasonography as a novel method for depicting intrarenal distribution of blood flow. After infusion of microbubble contrast agent, bubbles were collapsed in the kidney and postbubble destruction refilling was measured in various regions of the kidney. Local perfusion was monitored in vivo at 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes and 24 hours after 28 minutes of bilateral ischemia in 12 mice. High-resolution, pixel-by-pixel analysis was performed on each imaging clip using customized software, yielding parametric perfusion maps of the kidney, representing relative blood volume in each pixel. These perfusion maps revealed that outer medullary perfusion decreased disproportionately to the reduction in the cortical and inner medullary perfusion after ischemia. Outer medullary perfusion was significantly decreased by 69% at 60 minutes postischemia and remained significantly less (40%) than preischemic levels at 24 hours postischemia. Thus, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with high-resolution parametric perfusion maps can monitor changes in renal microvascular perfusion in space and time in mice. This novel technique can be translated to clinical use in man.

Intraoperative real-time MRI-guided stereotactic biopsy followed by laser thermal ablation for progressive brain metastases after radiosurgery.

Stereotactic radiosurgery is one of the treatment options for brain metastases. However, there are patients who will progress after radiosurgery. One of the potential treatments for this subset of patients is laser ablation. Image-guided stereotactic biopsy is important to determine the histopathological nature of the lesion. However, this is usually based on preoperative, static images, which may affect the target accuracy during the actual procedure as a result of brain shift. We therefore performed real-time intraoperative MRI-guided stereotactic aspiration and biopsies on two patients with symptomatic, progressive lesions after radiosurgery followed immediately by laser ablation. The patients tolerated the procedure well with no new neurologic deficits. Intraoperative MRI-guided stereotactic biopsy followed by laser ablation is safe and accurate, providing real-time updates and feedback during the procedure.

Cavitation-enhanced nonthermal ablation in deep brain targets: feasibility in a large animal model.

OBJECT Transcranial MRI-guided focused ultrasound (TcMRgFUS) is an emerging noninvasive alternative to surgery and radiosurgery that is undergoing testing for tumor ablation and functional neurosurgery. The method is currently limited to central brain targets due to skull heating and other factors. An alternative ablative approach combines very low intensity ultrasound bursts and an intravenously administered microbubble agent to locally destroy the vasculature. The objective of this work was to investigate whether it is feasible to use this approach at deep brain targets near the skull base in nonhuman primates. METHODS In 4 rhesus macaques, targets near the skull base were ablated using a clinical TcMRgFUS system operating at 220 kHz. Low-duty-cycle ultrasound exposures (sonications) were applied for 5 minutes in conjunction with the ultrasound contrast agent Definity, which was administered as a bolus injection or continuous infusion. The acoustic power level was set to be near the inertial cavitation threshold, which was measured using passive monitoring of the acoustic emissions. The resulting tissue effects were investigated with MRI and with histological analysis performed 3 hours to 1 week after sonication. RESULTS Thirteen targets were sonicated in regions next to the optic tract in the 4 animals. Inertial cavitation, indicated by broadband acoustic emissions, occurred at acoustic pressure amplitudes ranging from 340 to 540 kPa. MRI analysis suggested that the lesions had a central region containing red blood cell extravasations that was surrounded by edema. Blood-brain barrier disruption was observed on contrast-enhanced MRI in the lesions and in a surrounding region corresponding to the prefocal area of the FUS system. In histology, lesions consisting of tissue undergoing ischemic necrosis were found in all regions that were sonicated above the inertial cavitation threshold. Tissue damage in prefocal areas was found in several cases, suggesting that in those cases the sonication exceeded the inertial cavitation threshold in the beam path. CONCLUSIONS It is feasible to use a clinical TcMRgFUS system to ablate skull base targets in nonhuman primates at time-averaged acoustic power levels at least 2 orders of magnitude below what is needed for thermal ablation with this device. The results point to the risks associated with the method if the exposure levels are not carefully controlled to avoid inertial cavitation in the acoustic beam path. If methods can be developed to provide this control, this nonthermal approach could greatly expand the use of TcMRgFUS for precisely targeted ablation to locations across the entire brain.

Potential of minimally invasive procedures in the treatment of uterine fibroids: a focus on magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound therapy.

Minimally invasive treatment options are an important part of the uterine fibroid-treatment arsenal, especially among younger patients and in those who plan future pregnancies. This article provides an overview of the currently available minimally invasive therapy options, with a special emphasis on a completely noninvasive option: magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). In this review, we describe the background of MRgFUS, the patient-selection criteria for MRgFUS, and how the procedure is performed. We summarize the published clinical trial results, and review the literature on pregnancy post-MRgFUS and on the cost-effectiveness of MRgFUS.

Multimodal imaging for improved diagnosis and treatment of cancers.

The authors review methods for image-guided diagnosis and therapy that increase precision in the detection, characterization, and localization of many forms of cancer to achieve optimal target definition and complete resection or ablation. A new model of translational, clinical, image-guided therapy research is presented, and the Advanced Multimodality Image-Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite is described. AMIGO was conceived and designed to allow for the full integration of imaging in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Examples are drawn from over 500 procedures performed on brain, neck, spine, thorax (breast, lung), and pelvis (prostate and gynecologic) areas and are used to describe how they address some of the many challenges of treating brain, prostate, and lung tumors. Cancer 2015;121:817-827. © 2014 American Cancer Society.

Science to practice: opening the blood-brain barrier with focused ultrasound-a potential treatment for Alzheimer disease?

Burgess et al ( 1 ) present intriguing results of repetitive transient opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in a transgenic mouse model of advanced Alzheimer disease (AD). The results underscore the potential of using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided focused ultrasound and microbubble ultrasonography (US) contrast agents for the disruption of the BBB as a potential long-term therapy to reduce amyloid plaque burden and improve cognitive performance. This daring conclusion that is based on an experimental animal model should now be confirmed in humans. Considering that the technology is commercially available and given the immense clinical need, clinical trials in this AD treatment should be initiated as soon as possible.

Application of desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging in breast cancer margin analysis.

Distinguishing tumor from normal glandular breast tissue is an important step in breast-conserving surgery. Because this distinction can be challenging in the operative setting, up to 40% of patients require an additional operation when traditional approaches are used. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study to determine the feasibility of using desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) for identifying and differentiating tumor from normal breast tissue. We show that tumor margins can be identified using the spatial distributions and varying intensities of different lipids. Several fatty acids, including oleic acid, were more abundant in the cancerous tissue than in normal tissues. The cancer margins delineated by the molecular images from DESI-MSI were consistent with those margins obtained from histological staining. Our findings prove the feasibility of classifying cancerous and normal breast tissues using ambient ionization MSI. The results suggest that an MS-based method could be developed for the rapid intraoperative detection of residual cancer tissue during breast-conserving surgery.

Pilot study to evaluate feasibility of image-guided breast-conserving therapy in the advanced multimodal image-guided operating (AMIGO) suite.

BACKGROUND: The rate of reexcision in breast-conserving surgery remains high, leading to delay in initiation of adjuvant therapy, increased cost, increased complications, and negative psychological impact to the patient.1 (-) 3 We initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to determine the feasibility of the use of intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess margins in the advanced multimodal image-guided operating (AMIGO) suite. METHODS: All patients received contrast-enhanced three-dimensional MRI while under general anesthesia in the supine position, followed by standard BCT with or without wire guidance and sentinel node biopsy. Additional margin reexcision was performed of suspicious margins and correlated to final pathology (Fig. 1). Feasibility was assessed via two components: demonstration of safety and sterility and acceptable duration of the operation and imaging; and adequacy of intraoperative MRI imaging for interpretation and its comparison to final pathology. Fig. 1 Schema of AMIGO trial RESULTS: Eight patients (mean age 48.5 years), 4 with stage I breast cancer and 4 with stage II breast cancer, were recruited. All patients underwent successful BCT in the AMIGO suite with no AMIGO-specific complications or break in sterility during surgery. The mean operative time was 113 min (range 93-146 min). CONCLUSIONS: Our experience with AMIGO suggests that it is feasible to use intraoperative MRI imaging to evaluate margin assessment in real time. Further research is required to identify modalities that will lead to a reduction in reexcision in breast cancer therapy.

Intraoperative mass spectrometry mapping of an onco-metabolite to guide brain tumor surgery.

For many intraoperative decisions surgeons depend on frozen section pathology, a technique developed over 150 y ago. Technical innovations that permit rapid molecular characterization of tissue samples at the time of surgery are needed. Here, using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) MS, we rapidly detect the tumor metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG) from tissue sections of surgically resected gliomas, under ambient conditions and without complex or time-consuming preparation. With DESI MS, we identify isocitrate dehydrogenase 1-mutant tumors with both high sensitivity and specificity within minutes, immediately providing critical diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive information. Imaging tissue sections with DESI MS shows that the 2-HG signal overlaps with areas of tumor and that 2-HG levels correlate with tumor content, thereby indicating tumor margins. Mapping the 2-HG signal onto 3D MRI reconstructions of tumors allows the integration of molecular and radiologic information for enhanced clinical decision making. We also validate the methodology and its deployment in the operating room: We have installed a mass spectrometer in our Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite and demonstrate the molecular analysis of surgical tissue during brain surgery. This work indicates that metabolite-imaging MS could transform many aspects of surgical care.

Automatic segmentation of invasive breast carcinomas from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI using time series analysis.

PURPOSE: To accurately segment invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) using time series analysis based on linear dynamic system (LDS) modeling. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Quantitative segmentation methods based on black-box modeling and pharmacokinetic modeling are highly dependent on imaging pulse sequence, timing of bolus injection, arterial input function, imaging noise, and fitting algorithms. We modeled the underlying dynamics of the tumor by an LDS and used the system parameters to segment the carcinoma on the DCE-MRI. Twenty-four patients with biopsy-proven IDCs were analyzed. The lesions segmented by the algorithm were compared with an expert radiologist's segmentation and the output of a commercial software, CADstream. The results are quantified in terms of the accuracy and sensitivity of detecting the lesion and the amount of overlap, measured in terms of the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). RESULTS: The segmentation algorithm detected the tumor with 90% accuracy and 100% sensitivity when compared with the radiologist's segmentation and 82.1% accuracy and 100% sensitivity when compared with the CADstream output. The overlap of the algorithm output with the radiologist's segmentation and CADstream output, computed in terms of the DSC was 0.77 and 0.72, respectively. The algorithm also shows robust stability to imaging noise. Simulated imaging noise with zero mean and standard deviation equal to 25% of the base signal intensity was added to the DCE-MRI series. The amount of overlap between the tumor maps generated by the LDS-based algorithm from the noisy and original DCE-MRI was DSC = 0.95. CONCLUSION: The time-series analysis based segmentation algorithm provides high accuracy and sensitivity in delineating the regions of enhanced perfusion corresponding to tumor from DCE-MRI.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound: a new technology for clinical neurosciences.

Transcranial MRI-guided focused ultrasound (TcMRgFUS) is an old idea but a new technology that may change the entire clinical field of the neurosciences. TcMRgFUS has no cumulative effect, and it is applicable for repeatable treatments, controlled by real-time dosimetry, and capable of immediate tissue destruction. Most importantly, it has extremely accurate targeting and constant monitoring. It is potentially more precise than proton beam therapy and definitely more cost effective. Neuro-oncology may be the most promising area of future TcMRgFUS applications.

Mass spectrometry imaging as a tool for surgical decision-making.

Despite significant advances in image-guided therapy, surgeons are still too often left with uncertainty when deciding to remove tissue. This binary decision between removing and leaving tissue during surgery implies that the surgeon should be able to distinguish tumor from healthy tissue. In neurosurgery, current image-guidance approaches such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with neuronavigation offer a map as to where the tumor should be, but the only definitive method to characterize the tissue at stake is histopathology. Although extremely valuable information is derived from this gold standard approach, it is limited to very few samples during surgery and is not practically used for the delineation of tumor margins. The development and implementation of faster, comprehensive, and complementary approaches for tissue characterization are required to support surgical decision-making--an incremental and iterative process with tumor removed in multiple and often minute biopsies. The development of atmospheric pressure ionization sources makes it possible to analyze tissue specimens with little to no sample preparation. Here, we highlight the value of desorption electrospray ionization as one of many available approaches for the analysis of surgical tissue. Twelve surgical samples resected from a patient during surgery were analyzed and diagnosed as glioblastoma tumor or necrotic tissue by standard histopathology, and mass spectrometry results were further correlated to histopathology for critical validation of the approach. The use of a robust statistical approach reiterated results from the qualitative detection of potential biomarkers of these tissue types. The correlation of the mass spectrometry and histopathology results to MRI brings significant insight into tumor presentation that could not only serve to guide tumor resection, but that is also worthy of more detailed studies on our understanding of tumor presentation on MRI.

Nonthermal ablation with microbubble-enhanced focused ultrasound close to the optic tract without affecting nerve function.

OBJECT: Tumors at the skull base are challenging for both resection and radiosurgery given the presence of critical adjacent structures, such as cranial nerves, blood vessels, and brainstem. Magnetic resonance imaging-guided thermal ablation via laser or other methods has been evaluated as a minimally invasive alternative to these techniques in the brain. Focused ultrasound (FUS) offers a noninvasive method of thermal ablation; however, skull heating limits currently available technology to ablation at regions distant from the skull bone. Here, the authors evaluated a method that circumvents this problem by combining the FUS exposures with injected microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agent. These microbubbles concentrate the ultrasound-induced effects on the vasculature, enabling an ablation method that does not cause significant heating of the brain or skull. METHODS: In 29 rats, a 525-kHz FUS transducer was used to ablate tissue structures at the skull base that were centered on or adjacent to the optic tract or chiasm. Low-intensity, low-duty-cycle ultrasound exposures (sonications) were applied for 5 minutes after intravenous injection of an ultrasound contrast agent (Definity, Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc.). Using histological analysis and visual evoked potential (VEP) measurements, the authors determined whether structural or functional damage was induced in the optic tract or chiasm. RESULTS: Overall, while the sonications produced a well-defined lesion in the gray matter targets, the adjacent tract and chiasm had comparatively little or no damage. No significant changes (p > 0.05) were found in the magnitude or latency of the VEP recordings, either immediately after sonication or at later times up to 4 weeks after sonication, and no delayed effects were evident in the histological features of the optic nerve and retina. CONCLUSIONS: This technique, which selectively targets the intravascular microbubbles, appears to be a promising method of noninvasively producing sharply demarcated lesions in deep brain structures while preserving function in adjacent nerves. Because of low vascularity--and thus a low microbubble concentration--some large white matter tracts appear to have some natural resistance to this type of ablation compared with gray matter. While future work is needed to develop methods of monitoring the procedure and establishing its safety at deep brain targets, the technique does appear to be a potential solution that allows FUS ablation of deep brain targets while sparing adjacent nerve structures.

Statistical Learning Algorithm for in situ and invasive breast carcinoma segmentation.

Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) has proven to be a highly sensitive imaging modality in diagnosing breast cancers. However, analyzing the DCE-MRI is time-consuming and prone to errors due to the large volume of data. Mathematical models to quantify contrast perfusion, such as the black box methods and pharmacokinetic analysis, are inaccurate, sensitive to noise and depend on a large number of external factors such as imaging parameters, patient physiology, arterial input function, and fitting algorithms, leading to inaccurate diagnosis. In this paper, we have developed a novel Statistical Learning Algorithm for Tumor Segmentation (SLATS) based on Hidden Markov Models to auto-segment regions of angiogenesis, corresponding to tumor. The SLATS algorithm has been trained to identify voxels belonging to the tumor class using the time-intensity curve, first and second derivatives of the intensity curves ("velocity" and "acceleration" respectively) and a composite vector consisting of a concatenation of the intensity, velocity and acceleration vectors. The results of SLATS trained for the four vectors has been shown for 22 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) and 19 Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) cases. The SLATS trained for the velocity tuple shows the best performance in delineating the tumors when compared with the segmentation performed by an expert radiologist and the output of a commercially available software, CADstream.

Ambient mass spectrometry for the intraoperative molecular diagnosis of human brain tumors.

The main goal of brain tumor surgery is to maximize tumor resection while preserving brain function. However, existing imaging and surgical techniques do not offer the molecular information needed to delineate tumor boundaries. We have developed a system to rapidly analyze and classify brain tumors based on lipid information acquired by desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS). In this study, a classifier was built to discriminate gliomas and meningiomas based on 36 glioma and 19 meningioma samples. The classifier was tested and results were validated for intraoperative use by analyzing and diagnosing tissue sections from 32 surgical specimens obtained from five research subjects who underwent brain tumor resection. The samples analyzed included oligodendroglioma, astrocytoma, and meningioma tumors of different histological grades and tumor cell concentrations. The molecular diagnosis derived from mass-spectrometry imaging corresponded to histopathology diagnosis with very few exceptions. Our work demonstrates that DESI-MS technology has the potential to identify the histology type of brain tumors. It provides information on glioma grade and, most importantly, may help define tumor margins by measuring the tumor cell concentration in a specimen. Results for stereotactically registered samples were correlated to preoperative MRI through neuronavigation, and visualized over segmented 3D MRI tumor volume reconstruction. Our findings demonstrate the potential of ambient mass spectrometry to guide brain tumor surgery by providing rapid diagnosis, and tumor margin assessment in near-real time.

Extended Broca's area in the functional connectome of language in adults: combined cortical and subcortical single-subject analysis using fMRI and DTI tractography.

Traditional models of the human language circuitry encompass three cortical areas, Broca's, Geschwind's and Wernicke's, and their connectivity through white matter fascicles. The neural connectivity deep to these cortical areas remains poorly understood, as does the macroscopic functional organization of the cortico-subcortical language circuitry. In an effort to expand current knowledge, we combined functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging to explore subject-specific structural and functional macroscopic connectivity, focusing on Broca's area. Fascicles were studied using diffusion tensor imaging fiber tracking seeded from volumes placed manually within the white matter. White matter fascicles and fMRI-derived clusters (antonym-generation task) of positive and negative blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal were co-registered with 3-D renderings of the brain in 12 healthy subjects. Fascicles connecting BOLD-derived clusters were analyzed within specific cortical areas: Broca's, with the pars triangularis, the pars opercularis, and the pars orbitaris; Geschwind's and Wernicke's; the premotor cortex, the dorsal supplementary motor area, the middle temporal gyrus, the dorsal prefrontal cortex and the frontopolar region. We found a functional connectome divisible into three systems-anterior, superior and inferior-around the insula, more complex than previously thought, particularly with respect to a new extended Broca's area. The extended Broca's area involves two new fascicles: the operculo-premotor fascicle comprised of well-organized U-shaped fibers that connect the pars opercularis with the premotor region; and (2) the triangulo-orbitaris system comprised of intermingled U-shaped fibers that connect the pars triangularis with the pars orbitaris. The findings enhance our understanding of language function.

Neuronavigation in the surgical management of brain tumors: current and future trends.

Neuronavigation has become an ubiquitous tool in the surgical management of brain tumors. This review describes the use and limitations of current neuronavigational systems for brain tumor biopsy and resection. Methods for integrating intraoperative imaging into neuronavigational datasets developed to address the diminishing accuracy of positional information that occurs over the course of brain tumor resection are discussed. In addition, the process of integration of functional MRI and tractography into navigational models is reviewed. Finally, emerging concepts and future challenges relating to the development and implementation of experimental imaging technologies in the navigational environment are explored.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery: Part 2: A review of current and future applications.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) is a novel combination of technologies that is actively being realized as a noninvasive therapeutic tool for a myriad of conditions. These applications are reviewed with a focus on neurological use. A combined search of PubMed and MEDLINE was performed to identify the key events and current status of MRgFUS, with a focus on neurological applications. MRgFUS signifies a potentially ideal device for the treatment of neurological diseases. As it is nearly real time, it allows monitored provision of treatment location and energy deposition; is noninvasive, thereby limiting or eliminating disruption of normal tissue; provides focal delivery of therapeutic agents; enhances radiation delivery; and permits modulation of neural function. Multiple clinical applications are currently in clinical use and many more are under active preclinical investigation. The therapeutic potential of MRgFUS is expanding rapidly. Although clinically in its infancy, preclinical and early-phase I clinical trials in neurosurgery suggest a promising future for MRgFUS. Further investigation is necessary to define its true potential and impact.