结直肠癌是世界上第三大常见肿瘤，高达 50% 的患者在五年内发生肝转移 (CRLM)。为了改进和个性化治疗策略，迫切需要新的诊断工具。例如，通过磁共振弹性成像（MRE）测量的生物力学肿瘤特性可以用作这样的诊断工具。我们假设离体 MRE 与 CRLM 的组织学和放射学评估相结合，可以为肿瘤中的细胞活力提供基于生物力学的诊断标记。34 使用离体 MRE 在 500 Hz 频率范围内研究来自接受肝切除术的患者的 CRLM 标本至 5300 Hz，增量为 400 Hz。对作为刚度和粘度代理的剪切波速度和波穿透率进行单频评估，并基于弹簧罐模型和幂律指数 α 进行流变模型拟合，范围在 0（完全固体行为）和 1（完全流体）之间行为）。对于组织学分析，样品用 H 染色

Colorectal cancer is the third most common tumour entity in the world and up to 50% of the patients develop liver metastases (CRLM) within five years. To improve and personalize therapeutic strategies, new diagnostic tools are urgently needed. For instance, biomechanical tumour properties measured by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) could be implemented as such a diagnostic tool. We postulate that ex vivo MRE combined with histological and radiological evaluation of CRLM could provide biomechanics-based diagnostic markers for cell viability in tumours.34 CRLM specimens from patients who had undergone hepatic resection were studied using ex vivo MRE in a frequency range from 500 Hz to 5300 Hz with increments of 400 Hz. Single frequency evaluation of shear wave speed and wave penetration rate as proxies for stiffness and viscosity was performed, along with rheological model fitting based on the spring-pot model and powerlaw exponent α, ranging between 0 (complete solid behaviour) and 1 (complete fluid behaviour). For histological analysis, samples were stained with H&E and categorized according to the degree of regression. Quantitative histologic analysis was performed to analyse nucleus size, aspect ratio, and density. Radiological response was assessed according to RECIST-criteria.Five samples showed major response to chemotherapy, six samples partial response and 23 samples no response. For higher frequencies (> 2100 Hz), shear wave speed correlated significantly with the degree of regression (p ≤ 0.05) indicating stiffer properties with less viable tumour cells. Correspondingly, rheological analysis of α revealed more elastic-solid tissue properties at low cell viability and major response (α = 0.43 IQR 0.36, 0.47) than at higher cell viability and no response (α = 0.51 IQR 0.48, 0.55; p = 0.03). Quantitative histological analysis showed a decreased nuclear area and density as well as a higher nuclear aspect ratio in patients with major response to treatment compared to patients with no response (all p < 0.05).Our results suggest that MRE could be useful in the characterization of biomechanical property changes associated with cell viability in CRLM. In the future, MRE could be applied in clinical diagnosis to support individually tailored therapy plans for patients with CRLM.© 2024. The Author(s).