A team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, has won a $2.2 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the role of tissue elasticity in breast cancer diagnosis.
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A team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, has won a $2.2 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the role of tissue elasticity in breast cancer diagnosis.
Michael Insana
The researchers have developed a new ultrasonic imaging technique called SAVE (Sub-Hertz Analysis of Viscoelasticity), in which standard ultrasonic methods are adapted to measure image deformation in slightly-compressed breast tissue as it slowly relaxes from the applied pressure.
“This imaging method detects small structural changes in the tissue that are specific to cancerous tumors,” explained Michael Insana, head of the Department of Bioengineering at Illinois and co-principal investigator for the project.
Preliminary studies show that this method can distinguish between cancerous and noncancerous breast masses, which raises the possibility of regularly tracking changes in suspicious breast masses at low cost and with fewer biopsies. The aim of the project is to translate this laboratory finding into a viable clinical tool through the patient study be conducted at the Mayo Clinic during the grant period.
This project is an example of translational research that can bring benefits directly to the patient – work that is supported by the Mayo-Illinois Alliance for Technology Based Healthcare, which was founded in 2010 to advance research and clinical treatment options in health care. ________________________
Contact:Michael F. Insana, Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/333-1867.
Writer:Susan McKenna, assistant director of communications, Department of Bioengineering, 217/265-5167.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.