Microvascular Three-Dimentional Imaging of Tumors.

Background: Recent development of cancer treatments, scientists have realized the effect of vasculature in choosing the treatment method and drug delivery to the tumor tissue. Therefore, they seek to develop accurate imaging methods of microvessels inside cancer tissues. To prepare such images, a X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (μCT) and a suitable contrast agent are needed. The aim of this research is to compare new techniques for 3D imaging of microvessels network inside cancer tissues. Materials and Methods: By studying the scientific articles of the last two decades, proposed methods to obtain the desired images have been extracted. Advantages, disadvantages and limitations are discussed. Results: Josef Ehling et al. (2014) show that the combination of functional in vivo and anatomical ex vivo μCT allows highly accurate vessel size and vessel branching of blood volume and highly detailed three-dimensional analysis of the vascular network in tumors. This work has been examined in two types of cancer models (A431 & A549). Ruslan Hlushchuk et al. (2018) describe µAngiofil-enhanced μCT-based visualization of vasculature within different cancerous tissues. µAngiofil is a new polymerizing contrast agent for microangioCT imaging of entire vascular networks. The contrast agent homogeneously fills the entire vasculature and remains elastic enough for long term storage in 2% PFA. The additional autofluorescent properties of the contrast agent that allows for histological analysis and correlative microscopy. Conclusion: μCT with µAngiofil is a new efficient tool to study physiological and pathological changes in microvessels inside tumors. This approach has enabled non-destructive 3D imaging of tumor tissue along with its vascular network. One of the disadvantages of this method is that it is performed on tissues outside the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]