{"id":4040,"date":"2021-04-29T09:45:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T16:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/tech-advances-that-help-doctors-find-and-treat-disease-earlier-than-ever\/"},"modified":"2023-11-19T12:45:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:45:57","slug":"tech-advances-that-help-doctors-find-and-treat-disease-earlier-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/tech-advances-that-help-doctors-find-and-treat-disease-earlier-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech advances that help doctors find and treat disease earlier than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Tech advances that help doctors find and treat disease earlier than ever<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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When disease hides in the body, it takes some big ideas from scientists and doctors to illuminate it \u2014 and save lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n

\n Constance Sommer<\/span>\n \n April 29, 2021<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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A powerful 7T MRI scanner at USC can give scientists a better look at internal structures, like the corticospinal tract of our brain. (Photo\/Image courtesy of Jim Stanis, Arthur W. Toga, and the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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(Originally posted at USC Trojan Family<\/a>)<\/p>\n

A lot has changed<\/span>\u00a0for Rachel Moayedi in two years.<\/p>\n

She has lost 20 pounds. Her \u201cchipmunk cheeks,\u201d as she calls them, have melted away. Oh, and the 33-year-old has a baby. Her sweet little girl, Sadie, arrived last autumn.<\/p>\n

The transformations in Moayedi\u2019s life are thanks in large part to a cutting-edge machine that spotted a tumor in her brain. It took the\u00a0powerful 7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute<\/a>\u00a0to help radiologists pinpoint the small mass that other imaging scans hadn\u2019t seen.<\/p>\n

Ever-stronger scanners like the one at USC represent the latest step toward a long-standing dream for doctors and scientists alike: being able to detect early signs of disease from outside the body. In addition to MRI and other advances in medical imaging, USC physician-scientists are experimenting with technology that can spot single cancer cells in the bloodstream, sense early signs of an impending heart attack and more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all meant to keep people happy, healthy and whole. Just ask Rachel Moayedi.<\/p>\n

7T MRI Scanner: Advances in medical imaging illuminate hidden disease<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite years of infertility treatments, Moayedi couldn\u2019t get pregnant and no one was sure why. But looking back, she says, that wasn\u2019t the only thing wrong with her body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had these cheeks, like chipmunk cheeks, that were always red,\u201d she says. \u201cI had this pouch on my belly that was always soft and wouldn\u2019t go away.\u201d No matter how carefully she ate, she gained weight. She bruised surprisingly easily. And she always felt tired.<\/p>\n

Then one day in 2019, her acupuncturist asked if anyone had checked her thyroid levels. So began an odyssey that had Moayedi zigzagging among doctors, laboratories and MRI scanners. She learned her thyroid levels were irregular. Her cortisol \u2014 a stress hormone \u2014 was sky high. Her own internet research led her to believe she might have Cushing\u2019s disease. The condition can occur when a benign tumor in the pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ in the brain, causes the gland to secrete too much adrenocorticotropic hormone. That, in turn, triggers the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol, which can lead to many of the symptoms Moayedi experienced.<\/p>\n

But in April 2019 when she underwent an MRI scan in San Diego, where she lives, the results were inconclusive. \u201cTiny pituitary microadenoma cannot be excluded,\u201d read the report. In other words, the existing imaging technology wasn\u2019t powerful enough to see a small mass \u2014 or rule it out.<\/p>\n

Her husband refused to accept that ambivalent result and began researching other options. \u201cHe said: \u2018We want you to be seen by a specialist, people who see this [condition] all day, every day and know what they are doing,\u2019\u201d Moayedi recalls. Then he spotted a mention of USC\u2019s 7T MRI scanner.<\/p>\n

The \u201cT\u201d stands for tesla \u2014 not the car brand but rather a unit of measurement used to quantify the strength of a magnetic field. The average MRI strength is three teslas, or 3T. The 7T MRI \u201cis a leap forward in terms of resolution,\u201d says\u00a0brain scientist Arthur W. Toga<\/a>, director of the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Provost Professor and the Ghada Irani Chair in Neuroscience. The new scanner, acquired four years ago, has allowed Toga and his colleagues to see into the living brain in ways that weren\u2019t possible before.<\/p>\n

For instance, one focus of\u00a0Toga\u2019s research is Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>\u00a0and how it changes the brain\u2019s structure. His team looks at a part of the brain called the hippocampus \u2014 which plays a major role in learning and memory \u2014 to see how much it shrinks under the burden of the disease. With standard scanners, Toga can see the hippocampus but can\u2019t delve into its many features. \u201cAt 7T, I can,\u201d he says. \u201cI can begin to tease apart what part of the hippocampus is being affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the 7T MRI scanner, Toga and his colleagues can also see changes happening in the spaces around the brain\u2019s blood vessels as Alzheimer\u2019s disease progresses. \u201cWithout this powerful scanner,\u201d he says, \u201cit\u2019s hard to quantify what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

To scan a part of the body, the machine needs an antenna, or coil, to collect data from that area. So far, this 7T MRI scanner has a coil for the head and another for the knees.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s more than enough to spark the imagination of\u00a0Vishal Patel<\/a>, an assistant professor of radiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. \u201cYou immediately look at a 7T MRI scan and realize it\u2019s something you haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As a neuroradiologist, he learned about the intricacies of brain structure by studying images from scanners and consulting with pathologists, who examine tissue under the microscope. But their descriptions feel like a blurry jumble now that he has seen the quality of images from the 7T MRI scanner. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to be able to see the anatomy in such great detail,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He also sees exciting progress with patients like Moayedi, who have pituitary tumors so small they can\u2019t be detected with 3T MRI. In a\u00a0study Patel published<\/a>\u00a0in the journal\u00a0Neuroradiology<\/em>\u00a0in April 2020, radiologists detected a previously unseen lesion in nine of 10 patients who underwent a scan. Of those nine, Patel says, eight then underwent surgery that relieved their symptoms and changed their lives. Moayedi is among them \u2014 her tumor was removed in June 2019 by a USC team that included\u00a0neurosurgeon Gabriel Zada<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0endocrinologist John Carmichael<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Patel isn\u2019t ready to stop there. He ticks off a long list of vexing brain diseases and conditions that might be treated more precisely by performing advanced medical imaging using the 7T MRI scanner: multiple sclerosis, migraines, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and seizure disorders. These high-powered scanners, Toga adds, hold immense promise for the field of neuroimaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy allowing us to visualize increasingly small regions of the brain,\u201d he says, \u201cit brings us one step closer to understanding structure and function at the cellular level.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC experts seek early signs of cancer before it spreads<\/strong><\/p>\n

A malignant tumor in a breast isn\u2019t necessarily lethal. But it could become deadly when it starts spreading.<\/p>\n

Technology developed at the\u00a0USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience<\/a>\u00a0aims to detect when that happens, spotting cancer cells as they move around the body hunting for places to spread and multiply. So-called liquid biopsies look for those cells in the bloodstream, spinal fluid and bone marrow \u2014 anywhere cancer might try to hitch a ride.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where\u00a0Peter Kuhn<\/a>\u00a0comes in. \u201cThere\u2019s a very basic question: Can we diagnose cancer with a blood draw?\u201d says Kuhn, a founding member of the USC Michelson Center and director of the center\u2019s\u00a0Convergent Science Institute in Cancer<\/a>. \u201cIf we can do that, we could make life as a patient so much easier. We could make the job of our health care system so much more effective and efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no simple matter for malignant cells to survive away from their source, says Kuhn, Dean\u2019s Professor of Biological Sciences at the\u00a0USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cancer cell has to somehow get from that primary location, through the blood, to some other destination, settle down and start growing,\u201d he says. \u201cThat means the cancer has to overcome so many challenges. When it manages to do that, it is a really bad cancer. It has trained up to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nearly two decades, Kuhn has led the effort to detect early signs of the most tenacious, metastasizing cancers. In 2009, his lab launched a startup company, Epic Sciences, to license its technologies and develop clinical studies to prove their utility. That company has now received regulatory approval for a liquid biopsy test designed to detect cancerous cells that have broken away from a prostate tumor. These cells \u2014 now circulating in the bloodstream and resistant to certain drugs \u2014 are a sign that the cancer is aggressive and requires a new treatment approach. The company is testing a similar technology for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blood is the superhighway that connects the body,\u201d Kuhn says. \u201cI can draw blood much more easily than I can do a biopsy by sticking a long needle through my rib cage to an organ.\u201d<\/p>\n

If doctors can spot these metastasizing cancer cells before they grow and show up as a tumor on a scan, they could potentially deliver chemotherapy sooner and give patients a better chance of recovering from the disease.<\/p>\n

A colorful solution to detect early signs of cancer<\/strong><\/p>\n

A love of Disney animation led\u00a0engineer Cristina Zavaleta<\/a>\u00a0to rethink the tools physicians use to pinpoint tumors.<\/p>\n

One of her hobbies is art, and she indulged herself by signing up for a workshop in Emeryville, California, led by Pixar animators. \u201cI was exposed to all these different paints, and they were vibrant colors,\u201d says Zavaleta, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the USC Michelson Center. \u201cAt the same time, I was working on my research and thinking about imaging and new contrast agents. I started thinking about what pigments are being used in humans already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tattoo inks came to mind. So did snacks and drinks with food coloring. Drugs contain dyes. Cosmetics like lipstick and eyeliner come in every shade imaginable. She wondered: Could any of these dyes also be injected or ingested for a medical procedure? And if so, what could they illuminate that current contrast agents cannot?<\/p>\n

So began her quest to help diagnose and treat cancer by bringing together common household dyes with tiny specks of matter \u2014 what scientists call nanoparticles. (To understand how small a nanoparticle is, Zavaleta says, picture a chocolate-covered donut about 4 inches across. Now imagine it with little round rainbow sprinkles. In terms of size, a donut is to a sprinkle as a cell is to a nanoparticle.)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how cancer detection often works today: A physician suspects a patient has cancer in part of her body but wants to know more before recommending treatment or surgery. That patient receives an injection (or swallows a liquid) that contains a contrast agent, or dye. If a tumor exists, it can be illuminated by the agent so that it shows up on an imaging scan.<\/p>\n

Zavaleta wants to\u00a0make the dyes even more powerful<\/a>\u00a0so that tumors show up even clearer than they do now. When scientists chemically hook the dyes up to nanoparticles, the resulting contrast agent could make its way into a tumor and light it up brighter and for longer than current contrast agents.<\/p>\n

The agents could also illuminate other conditions in the body, like plaque on artery walls or inflammation triggered by arthritis. The nanoparticle-encapsulated dyes, Zavaleta explains, \u201ccan be targeted to anything you want to glow for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, her dye technology exists only in the lab. Human trials are years off, pending federal approval. But Zavaleta and her fellow scientists already believe that dye-infused nanoparticles have the potential to spotlight cancer more accurately.<\/p>\n

Technology that could stop heart attacks before they start<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hallmark of high cholesterol is the fat deposits it coats along your artery walls, forming plaque. When a chunk of this plaque buildup ruptures, it can trigger bleeding and blood clots. One of those clots could lodge in a spot that blocks a key artery, causing a heart attack or stroke.<\/p>\n

But what if doctors could spot the bits of plaque in your body that might be about to break open and stabilize them with a protective coating?\u00a0USC doctoral student Deborah Chin<\/a>\u00a0has come up with nanoparticles that could help them do just that.<\/p>\n

Chin\u2019s idea is to find potentially dangerous plaque on artery walls \u2014 what\u2019s called atherosclerosis. Physicians today focus on slowing down the progress of atherosclerosis to prevent heart attack and stroke. They do that by cutting levels of the dangerous form of cholesterol in the blood. Patients often take statin drugs to reduce high cholesterol levels. But sometimes those drugs aren\u2019t enough to prevent plaque from building up and rupturing.<\/p>\n

The nanoparticle Chin developed could identify any existing plaque that is inflamed and poses a danger. It would carry materials that bind the nanoparticle to the inflamed area, strengthening the damaged tissue. And because a contrast agent can also be paired with the particle, the worrisome plaque could show up on an MRI scan.<\/p>\n

So far, Chin says method has worked successfully with animal models. Human trials remain about 10 years away for her technology, but science will steadily march on. Other lifesaving methods that detect early signs of disease that were once major advances, like mammography and colon cancer screening tools, are now commonplace. Imaging technology is constantly improving.<\/p>\n

Rachel Moayedi can vouch for that.<\/p>\n

The 7T MRI technology that enabled USC doctors to see the mass on her pituitary gland was unheard of only a decade ago \u2014 and even more powerful MRI scanners are in development. Six months after Moayedi benefited from the 7T MRI scanner at the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, she was feeling better, looking better and best of all, pregnant with her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 7T MRI was a game changer for our family,\u201d Moayedi says. \u201cWe owe the researchers, Dr. Zada and Dr. Carmichael my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When disease hides in the body, it takes some big ideas from scientists and doctors to illuminate it \u2014 and save lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":4041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[604,57],"class_list":["post-4040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-department-of-radiology","tag-recent"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTech advances that help doctors find and treat disease earlier than ever<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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