Monitoring Oxygen Dynamics During Pressure Induced Ischemia on Cancer Xenograft Models

We recently developed a multi-modal test platform for real time, non-invasive monitoring of tumor tissue structural and oxygen dynamic changes during pressure-induced ischemia. The system integrated a clinical ultrasound, a mechanical load frame, and a near infrared tissue oximeter. The system was tested on an athymic NU/NU mouse model with xenograft pancreatic cancer implanted on the back. The preliminary results demonstrated characteristic differences between the premortem tumor and the postmortem tumor in terms of physical and physiological responses to compression stimuli. These differences suggested that it might be possible to characterize suspicious tumors based on their oxygen dynamic responses to pressure-induced ischemia.