Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer by Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance and pO2 Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging

There is an unmet need for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Diagnosis is difficult due to the asymptomatic nature of pancreatic cancer. One way to detect the early stages is to monitor the altered metabolism in premalignant pancreatic lesions in vivo with hyperpolarized metabolic imaging. Here we demonstrate how genetically engineered mouse models were used to detect early stages of pancreatic cancer as we see an increase in the altered metabolism in the pancreatic cancer models compared to control mice. Simultaneously we observe changes in hypoxia levels in these models using electron paramagnetic resonance imaging.