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A Study to Correlate Ultrasound Elastography With Histopathology to Monitor the Response of Locally Advanced Breast Cancer to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

NCT01737970 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 10

Last updated 2017-10-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This research proposal concerns a study to monitor the effects of chemotherapy on breast cancer tumour and peritumour stromal cells using ultrasound (US) elastography (also known as strain imaging).

Many cancer treatments currently being developed are targeted; that is they exploit particular biological processes in specific cancer cell types to disrupt tumour growth. Being able to monitor the efficacy of these typically high-cost drug therapies is essential both for the best patient outcome as well as offering economical benefits to the health care system and much needed insight into future drug development.

Ultrasound provides a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive means for imaging cancers, and has been used widely in breast cancer diagnosis for many years. Its role in therapy monitoring has been suggested but has not been well explored. The purpose of this proposal is to explore this potential in more depth.

It has been identified that significant interaction takes place between tumour and stroma through all stages of tumour growth; this complex relationship is an ongoing topic of research. Fibrotic changes occur during tumour growth and are also a quintessential process of healing. Indeed, fibrosis is a common after effect to chemotherapy in many forms of cancer. Elastography is an established imaging technique (based on ultrasound or MRI) which can estimate the relative stiffness of tissues in vivo and is thus well-suited to monitor these particular biological processes.

This elucidates the main hypothesis of this project: fibrosis, cancer cell necrosis and inflammation may all contribute to a measurable response in elastography. These changes to the tissue composition can be imaged over a course of a patient's treatment to assess the response to chemo/hormonal therapy.

The ultimate project goals are to develop a clinical tool (based on ultrasound elastography) to improve treatment management in addition to offering a better biological understanding of tumour/stroma behaviour.

Conditions

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Oxford

    collaborator OTHER

  • Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Ruth English, M.D. · Oxford University NHS Trust

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2012-02-29
Primary Completion
2014-07-31
Completion
2014-07-31

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01737970 on ClinicalTrials.gov