Technology Summary

Kyoto University

Imaging System for Diagnosis of Cancer Lesions Using Diffusion-Weighted MRIFast Displaying of a Color-Encoded Diagnostic Map for Malignancy Covering Entire Tumors[Inventor] Denis Le Bihan, Mami Iima, et al., Kyoto University

Invention

Advantages

Researchers at Kyoto University have developed a newsemi-automatic evaluation system to characterize cancer
lesions detected with Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) based on measurement of the diffusion propertiesof water and blood microcirculation in tissues.

➢Fast, 1-step quantitative assessment of thediffusion and perfusion parameters tocharacterize entire lesions➢

Imaging without any use of contrast agents➢High sensitivity/specificity from amultiparametric diagnostic score➢

Easy diagnosis with color-encoded diagnostic
maps that clearly shows biopsy sites

Blood microcirculation is known as an importantparameter to establish tumor grading and treatment
efficacy. Conventionally, it is assessed by MRI after
injection of contrast agents, but those agents may lead tosevere complications or death in patients with renal
failure. On the other hand, diffusion MRI is known toprovide sensitive information on tissue structure at a
microscopic level, by detecting diffusion of water
hindered by tissue features such as cell membranes orcell density. From those information, modulated tissue
status (malignant or benign) could be detected, but there
has been no such precise detection system to date.
The invention provides for an approach where water
diffusion parameters (e.g. the average diffusion
coefficient and the kurtosis, an index of hindrance) andperfusion parameters (e.g. the flowing blood volumefraction) can be directly derived from a single MRI
acquisition based on the intravoxel incoherent motion ofwater in tissues without using contrast agents. A
diagnostic threshold has been established for eachparameter to provide the highest sensitivity/specificity tomalignancy detection. Combining all parameters
thresholds and calculating a quantitative diagnostic score(from benign to malignant), a color-scale visualization
either for whole lesions or on a pixel-by-pixel basis is
made possible.
Apart from grading on tumors without using a contrast
agent, this new MRI approach can also show lesions
heterogeneity to guide biopsy sites, and to monitortherapy efficacy.

Comparison of Imaging Results(Infiltrating duct carcinoma)

Contact Information

TLO-KYOTO Co.,Ltd.
E-mail: event@tlo-kyoto.co.jp
TEL: +81(75)-753-9150
https://www.tlo-kyoto.co.jp/english/

Applications
We are seeking a company to license thetechnology for its application in the following areas:➢ MRI and medical imaging device➢ Medical imaging software

Research Status➢Correlation of diffusion and perfusion parameterswith tumoral tissue structure is verified in a rat braintumor model.
(Iima et al. Investigative Radiology 2014. In Press)➢Superior performance of the new image
processing method is verified in a small cohort ofbreast cancer patients.
➢Ongoing validation study with a prospective study
for breast cancer.
➢Ongoing investigation for the use with the othercancer lesions.

Intellectual Property[Patent Appl. No.] JP2014-042340[Inventor] Denis Le Bihan, Mami Iima, Kojiro Yano
[Applicant] Kyoto University