SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES FOR ULTRASONIC ASSESSMENT OF CANCER AND RESPONSE TO THERAPY

Microbubbles can be injected into the bloodstream of a patient, for example, a cancer patient undergoing a treatment specifically targeting a biological process in a tumor. The injected microbubbles can act as vascular contrast agents, which can be detected in vivo using high-frequency ultrasound imaging. The microbubbles can have a surface chemistry that allows them to bind to molecular targets in the tumor vasculature. After injection, the microbubbles can selectively adhere to endothelia expressing a target receptor. The selective adhesion can be used to quantify the tumor vasculature in vivo. By imaging the adhered microbubbles with ultrasound, an indication of how tumor vasculature is affected by a specific cancer treatment can be obtained. Such techniques can be used in a clinical setting for rapid determination of anti-cancer treatment efficacy for individual patients.