Quantum enhanced MRI agents can change how we diagnose and treat cancerous tumors

S. Brosh
NVision Imaging,
United States

Keywords: quantum sensing, MRI, cancer

Summary:

Ask any oncologist - The first question patients ask them once therapy has been initiated (with a mixture of hope and fear) - “Is it working?”. Sadly, this question is usually left unanswered for months and patients are left with much uncertainty while continuing to receive (often toxic) therapy. Clinical and radiologic outcomes are critical to understanding whether a treatment is effective or needs to be changed. Yet, unfortunately, current protocols that rely on traditional MRI, CT or PET imaging agents usually require several months to provide definitive answer for patients and clinicians. And so in the absence of early feedback, cancer therapy is typically administered according to a fixed, rigid protocol (1st line, 2nd line, etc). NVision has developed a quantum based platform which enhances (polarizes) the MRI signal of metabolites, enabling these safe molecules to be used as agents for imaging tumor metabolism via MRI scanners. This technology will allow clinicians to quickly (<7 days) determine which patients are responding to cancer therapies, allowing non-responders to be moved onto another line of therapy more quickly or even reduce the treatment dose, sparing people unnecessary side effects.