Home Frequent Optical Imaging during Breast Cancer Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Reveals Dynamic Tumor Physiology in an Individual Patient
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Frequent Optical Imaging during Breast Cancer Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Reveals Dynamic Tumor Physiology in an Individual Patient

Rationale and Objectives

Imaging tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in vivo offers unique opportunities for patient care and clinical decision-making. Detailed imaging studies may allow oncologists to optimize therapeutic drug type and dose based on individual patient response. Most radiologic methods are used sparingly because of cost; thus, important functional information about tumor response dynamics may be missed. In addition, current clinical standards are based on determining tumor size changes; thus, standard anatomic imaging may be insensitive to early or frequent biochemical responses. Because optical methods provide functional imaging end points, our objective is to develop a low-barrier-to-access bedside approach that can be used for frequent, functional assessment of dynamic tumor physiology in individual patients.

Materials and Methods

Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging (DOSI) is a noninvasive, bedside functional imaging technique that quantifies the concentration and molecular state of tissue hemoglobin, water, and lipid. Pilot clinical studies have shown that DOSI may be a useful tool for quantifying neoadjuvant chemotherapy response, typically by comparing the degree of change in tumor water and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration before and after therapy. Patient responses at 1 week and mid-therapy have been used to predict clinical outcome. In this report, we assess the potential value of frequent DOSI monitoring by performing measurements on 19 different days in a 51-year-old subject with infiltrating ductal carcinoma (initial tumor size 60 × 27 mm) who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (anthracyclines and bevacizumab) over an 18-week period.

Results

A composite index, the Tissue Optical Index (TOI), showed a significant (∼50%) decrease over the nearly 18 weeks of chemotherapy. Tumor response was sensitive to the type of chemotherapy agent, and functional indices fluctuated in a manner consistent with dynamic tumor physiology. Final pathology revealed 4 mm of residual disease, which was detectible by DOSI at the conclusion of chemotherapy before surgery.

Conclusion

This case study suggests that DOSI may be a bedside-capable tool for frequent longitudinal monitoring of therapeutic functional response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Presurgical neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has an increasingly important role in breast cancer patient care and drug development . Also referred to as “preoperative systemic therapy,” NAC has become standard of care for locally advanced and inflammatory breast cancer . In this setting, chemotherapy is administered before surgery to improve breast tissue conservation by reducing tumor size . Additional important benefits compared to adjuvant chemotherapy include the ability to directly assess an individual’s sensitivity to specific drugs, and initiating treatment of possible nodes and metastases before surgery.

Imaging individual tumor response can provide sufficient information for oncologists to alter therapeutics with a goal of improving overall survival, decreasing cancer recurrence, and minimizing exposure to ineffective drugs. Several groups are developing advanced imaging techniques for monitoring the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, using for example magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS), and positron emission tomography (PET) . These studies provide compelling evidence that functional imaging can be used to monitor and perhaps even predict therapeutic outcome . However, it is unclear what are the most sensitive and informative imaging end points and how often they should be assessed.

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Materials and methods

Instrumentation

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Figure 1, Current Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging (DOSI) instrument. The DOSI instrument measures tissue complete absorption and scattering spectra from 650 to 1000 nm through the use of a handheld probe (seen on top of system). Spectroscopic images are generated by translating the handheld probe along a rectilinear grid on the surface of the breast.

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Measured Information Content

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DOSI Measurement Technique

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Figure 2, Measured areas. Dots represent Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging–measured locations on each breast for the study. At each spatial location, broadband near-infrared absorption and scattering spectra were obtained. The tumor location and orientation is identified by the oval in the figure.

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Image Analysis

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Patient Selection

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Measurement and Treatment Schedules

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Results

Baseline Tumor NIR Absorption Spectra

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Figure 3, Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging–measured near infrared absorption spectra. Sample near-infrared absorption spectra from normal and malignant breast tissues before neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

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Table 1

Tumor Functional Properties Measured by DOSI before Chemotherapy

ctO 2 Hb (μM) ctHHb (μM) ctH 2 O (%) Lipid (%) TOI Tumor 15.0 ± 1.0 9.0 ± 1.2 40.7 ± 5.9 51.4 ± 4.2 7.7 ± 2.8 Normal 13.0 ± 2.2 6.0 ± 1.1 23.0 ± 6.3 71.5 ± 9.5 2.2 ± 1.1

DOSI, Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging; ctO 2 Hb, tissue concentration of oxy-hemoglobin; ctHHb, tissue concentration of deoxy-hemoglobin; ctH 2 O, tissue concentration of water; TOI, tissue optical index.

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Initial A/C Chemotherapy Stage

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Figure 4, Serial Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging images: before initial Adriamycin/Cytoxan. Serial images of tissue concentration of deoxy-hemoglobin (ctHHb) taken before all treatment (-8 days), as well as on days 3, 4, 5, and 7 after the initial Adriamycin/Cytoxan chemotherapy treatment. Each image is scaled independently, with the scale bar immediately to the right of the image. The maximum ctHHb value of the tumor dropped significantly after the treatment (days 3 and 4), but quickly returned to pretreatment levels shortly thereafter (days 5 and 7). Note that the entire tumor volume was not imaged in this example.

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Bevacizumab Therapy Stage

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Figure 5, Serial Diffuse Optical Spectroscopic Imaging images after Bevacizumab. Day -7 refers to a week before the initiation of a treatment stage featuring Bevacizumab. The number in parentheses is the day count with respect to the start of all therapy. This patient received Bevacizumab on days 27 and 41. We observed an initial decrease in tissue concentration of deoxy-hemoglobin (ctHHb), yet the peak values of ctHHb returned to the day -7 values after approximately 2 weeks.

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Entire Therapy Sequence

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Figure 6, Long-term tumor response. Tissue optical index (TOI) ratio (tumor/normal) is plotted over the entire course of treatment.

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Discussion

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Conclusion

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Acknowledgments

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