Pathological Changes on Human Breast Cancer Specimens Ablated in vitro with High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound

Niu, Lingchuan; Wang, Zhibiao; Zou, Wenbing; Zhang, Lian; Xiang, Like; Zhu, Hui; Chen, Wenzhi; Bai, Jin; Wu, Junru

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2010.05.016

« Previous Next »Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
Volume 36, Issue 9 , Pages 1437-1444, September 2010

Pathological Changes on Human Breast Cancer Specimens Ablated in vitro with High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound

Lingchuan Niu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing, China
Zhibiao Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing, China
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China
- Address correspondence to: Zhibiao Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, 153Box, 1Yixueyuan Road, Chongqing 400016, China.
Wenbing Zou
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing, China
Lian Zhang
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China
Like Xiang
- Department of Pathology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Hui Zhu
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China
Wenzhi Chen
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China
Jin Bai
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing, China
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China
Junru Wu
- Department of Physics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

Received 23 October 2009; received in revised form 20 March 2010; accepted 19 May 2010.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pathologic changes of human breast cancer specimens ablated with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in vitro. Twenty specimens of pathologically confirmed breast cancer tissue were ablated with ultrasound-guided HIFU. The evaluation methods include histopathologic observation using hematoxylin-eosin staining, electron microscopic imaging, enzyme histochemical and immunohistochemical examination on tumor antigens. Vacuole-like structures in cytoplasm were observed by histopathologic observation but there were no significant changes in cell morphology and nucleus karyotype. Typical phenomena related to coagulation necrosis were observed in electron microscopic studies; the contour of cell structure was still preserved but the structures of cell (all kinds of organelles and nucleus) were damaged or disappeared. Acid phosphatase and succinate dehydrogenase staining showed that tumor cells were inactivated. In immunohistochemical evaluations, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, cerbB-2 and P53 expression changed from 85%, 82%, 75% and 80% in nonablation tissue to no expression in ablated tumor tissue, respectively. We, therefore, conclude that breast cancer cells appear normal contour immediately after ablation with HIFU under light microscopic but they were evaluated to be dead by electron microscopic imaging, enzyme histochemical and immunohistochemical examinations. (E-mail:wangzbpaper@haifu.com.cn)

Key Words: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), Ablation, Breast cancer