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[hyperbaricoxygen] Cancer

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Scan Detects Oxygen Levels in Tumors

April 23, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that scientists are

close to developing a simple way to measure oxygen levels in tumors, giving

doctors a heads-up about what kind of treatment is best for individual patients.

The findings fit into an emerging trend of individualized treatment for patients

with cancer instead of treating people the same way, said Dr. Mark Dewhirst, a

professor of radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center.

" If successful, [the trend] will revolutionize the way that we treat cancer, "

said Dewhirst, who co-wrote a commentary accompanying the new study, published

April 22 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Scientists began realizing the important role of oxygen in tumors about 50 years

ago, said study co-author , branch chief of radiation biology at

the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research. The scientists

discovered that tumors with higher concentrations of oxygen were more

susceptible to radiation, he said.

" Radiation damages cells by causing damage to DNA, and one particular type of

damage renders the DNA molecule non-reparable, " said. But less oxygen

in the tumor allows tumor cells to survive more easily by making the DNA

destruction process more difficult, he said.

According to Dewhirst, the same is true for chemotherapy drugs, which also don't

work as well when tumors have less oxygen.

Lower levels of oxygen create other problems, Dewhirst. " One would think at

first that lack of oxygen would make tumors unhealthy and easy to kill, " he

said. " But actually, the opposite happens -- tumor cells that lack oxygen become

more aggressive and more difficult to kill. "

Tumors with lower oxygen levels even spread more easily through the body, he

said.

Doctors can check oxygen levels in patients by inserting a needle. But doctors

can't insert needles into some patients, and. in others, it's difficult to

insert the needle deep enough, said.

In the new study, the researchers tested a scanning technique called pulsed

electron paramagnetic resonance imaging and used it in tandem with magnetic

resonance imaging. The study authors said they were able to successfully measure

oxygen levels in tumors in mice by using the non-invasive technology.

" The imaging that is described in this study provides all of the information

necessary to evaluate oxygen levels in tumors as well as to examine underlying

causes for the lack of oxygen, " Dewhirst said. " The fact that all of the imaging

is completely non-invasive provides the ability to perform this measurement more

than once, (meaning) this could be used to monitor the effectiveness of cancer

therapy. "

There are caveats, however. The research hasn't reached the human testing level

yet, and it may not work in people. " Scaling up the method to make it suitable

for use in humans will be a significant challenge, but not impossible, " Dewhirst

said.

For now, the plan is to launch more studies with animals to see if the technique

works as a way to test cancer drugs.

SOURCES: Mark W. Dewhirst, DVM, Ph.D., Gustavo S. Montana professor of radiation

oncology and professor of pathology and biomedical engineering, Duke University

Medical Center, Durham, N.C.; , Ph.D., branch chief, radiation

biology, Center for Cancer Research, U.S. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda,

Md.; April 22, 2008, Journal of Clinical Investigation

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