12 Dec Medical College lands $300K federal grant for brain cancer imaging
Milwaukee, Wis. – The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a two-year, $333,300 grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a new imaging technique to detect the spread of tumor cells in the brain.
The new system would help clinicians and physicians better detect Glioma, a tumor of the central nervous system that infiltrates brain tissue. They lack a non-invasive way to detect invading brain tumor cells, which is believed to be a primary reason why brain tumors are so incurable.
Kathleen M. Schmainda, associate professor of radiology research and principal investigator for the grant, hopes to develop a diffusion-based magnetic resonance imaging technique to detect glioma invasion. The goal is to provide physicians with information specific to invading tumor cells that is not confused by the presence of other conditions such as excessive fluid or radiation effects, both of which are commonly present in glioma patients.
Schmainda said a non-invasive brain tumor imaging capability should dramatically improve the prognosis and treatment for patients with brain tumors.
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