Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging Offers Encouraging Option for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new study shows that contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) techniques offer an encouraging option for noninvasively detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages, when treatment may help save lives, according to results presented today at the 39^th annual International Bubble Conference in Chicago.

“Due to the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer, the patient’s 5 year survival is only 4% when the cancer is detected in late stages,” according to Dr. Dan Adam, a professor emeritus at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, who spoke today.

“This represents an important advance in screening for pancreatic cancer in high risk patients and to identify pancreatic cancer at an early stage where curative procedures can be performed,” said Dr. Richard Barr, an officer of the International Contrast Ultrasound Society who attended the conference. Dr. Barr is a professor of radiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Dr. Adam said that 90 per cent of pancreatic cancers start within the ductal epithelium, and for 30 years researchers have been largely unsuccessful in using standard endoscopy tests to obtain at least 50 ductal cells – the minimum number required to allow doctors to determine the presence of pancreatic cancer.

However, an infusion of a microbubble ultrasound contrast agent for ten minutes, along with insonation of the pancreas, will trigger the shedding of more than 500 ductal cells into the pancreatic juice, which may be collected in a minimally invasive upper endoscopy procedure and analyzed to determine the presence of pancreatic cancer.

Adam said that of 92 high risk patients studied so far, four patients had changed clinical management and two were referred for surgery.

“This procedure is easily performed and well tolerated, and the ability to obtain sufficient quantities of pancreatic ductal cells without entering the pancreas is unprecedented,” Adam said.

The natural vibration of contrast microbubbles loosens overlying ductal epithelium, he said.

“There is no known alternative biological or technical approach to screen for pancreatic cancer, including standard imaging or serum markers, but we are finding that CEUS can enhance the endoscopically obtained tissue sample in order to assess pancreatic dysplasia,” Adam said.

Standard CEUS diagnostic examinations utilize microbubble ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) that are infused intravenously during an ultrasound exam to enhance images. UCAs do not contain iodine or gadolinium and are not nephrotoxic.

The conference endorsed by the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS), a nonprofit global professional society focused on CEUS education and utilization.

ABOUT ICUS:

The International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) is a nonprofit medical society dedicated to advancing the safe and medically appropriate use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to improve patient care globally. Membership in ICUS is free of charge and there is no fee for ICUS educational programs, CME credits, newsletters or other resources.

To join ICUS and learn more about CEUS, visit www.icus-society.org and download ICUS CONNECT, the free ICUS mobile app.