Predicting Interstitial Fluid Pressure and Velocity in Breast Cancer with NAC using DCE-MRI and Pharmacokinetic-Fluid Flow Modeling

Motivation: Elevated interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) or reduction in velocity (IFV) in breast cancer patients has been shown to contribute to treatment resistance, but its measurement is impractical in clinical practice. Goal(s): Our goal is to map IFP and IFV from DCE breast MRI and to evaluate its association with treatment response. Approach: We developed pharmacokinetic-fluid flow models to evaluate its association between IFP, IFV and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) responses. Results: We observed small differences in IFP and IVF between NAC treatment cohorts. Initial data based on pre-NAC DCE-breast MRI suggest a potential for early prediction of treatment response of primary tumors. Impact: Non-invasive pharmacokinetic and computational fluid dynamics modeling in breast DCE-MRI can provide information of tumor IFP and IFV. This approach has the potential to serve as a valuable non-invasive clinical tool for predicting early treatment response.