Development and Validation of a Tumour Oxygenation Monitoring Probe

Tumour hypoxia is feature common to most solid tumours, with significant implications in tumour aggressiveness, metastatic potential and response to therapy. Tumour oxygenation monitoring is likely, therefore, to provide a valuable adjunct in risk stratification and treatment response monitoring.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) utilises the differing absorption of oxygenated as compared to deoxygenated haemoglobin to provide an accurate measure of tissue oxygenation.

This project aims to develop and validate a tissue oxygenation probe for cancer monitoring. Using the clinical paradigms of rectal and breast cancer, anonymised MRIs of cancer sufferers will guide simulations of tissue optical properties to develop a DRS probe. The 3D reconstructed sans will then be used to 3D print tissue phantom models on which the DRS probe will be validated against reference bench top analysers.

Inclusion criteria

• MRIs from Breast or Rectal Cancer patients (10 of each)
• Locally advanced Cancers (Stage 2 or 3)
• Patients who went on to receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.
• Anonymised scans

Exclusion criteria

• MRIs from patients under the age of 18, or older than 99 years old will be excluded.
• MRIs from patients who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy for cancer will be excluded.