Exploring tumour structure and function with magnetic resonance imaging
What feeds cancer tumours? Cancer cells need a steady input of energy and oxygen to survive and multiply. In turn, tumours depend on blood supply, or perfusion, to fulfill these needs. This drives abnormal development of blood vessels around tumours. On the other hand, tumours can outgrow their oxygen supply and become hypoxic, which impacts progression and response to treatment. But can we see this happening live? Among the tools we have to visualize and study cancer tumours, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) stands out in being able to provide metrics of blood supply and oxygenation in vivo, with little risk to the patient. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI methods can model tissue perfusion and provide insight into perfusion. Oxygen-sensitive MR methods have the potential to inform on hypoxia. I will present our research to advance these methods, including work on the reference region model for DCE-MRI and relaxation-based MR-oximetry.
Bio
Dr. Ives Levesque is an Assistant Professor at McGill University in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, a Member of the Medical Physics Unit, and a Scientist at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre. His research focuses on developing quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods with applications in oncology, neuroimaging, and musculoskeletal imaging. Dr. Levesque completed graduate studies at McGill University at the Montreal Neurological Institute and postdoctoral studies at Stanford University.