Novel Cryo-Imaging to Uncover the Spread of Deadly Cancer

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers were able to create the above picture using a new imaging technique involving cry0-imaging. The tumor is shown in green, the feeding blood vessels in red, and the migrating cells in yellow. The cryo-imaging (cold temperature) technique, along with custom algorithms, was used to disassemble the brain layer by layer and reassemble it into a 3D image. The study involved imaging glioblastoma multiforme in a mouse model. Detailed images of the pathways of single cancer cells resulted, allowing scientists to track tumor metastasis at the molecular level.

The problem with current molecular imaging techniques is their low resolution and difficulty imaging though the skull. However, this technique allows viewing of single cancer cell migration in fine detail. The conclusion of the study was that this novel cryo-imaging technique is a valuable resource to look at the effects of different therapy methods in limiting tumor cell invasion and dispersal. This is important to the future of biomedical engineering because imaging plays a central role in the study of disease treatment, as well as diagnosis. In cancer, cells take often unpredictable pathways as they spread and recruit blood vessels. Cryo-imaging shows scientists exactly what these rogue cells are doing, and the pathways they are taking.

Source: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2011/08/19/0008-5472.CAN-11-1553