Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
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Lymphotrophic Nanoparticle Enhanced MRI (Molecular Imaging)
Used for detection of minimal nodal metastastic disease
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center has the only gastrointestinal cancer program in the Northeast to offer molecular imaging, which delivers highly precise information about malignancies at the cellular level, allowing for excellent staging accuracy.

For primary tumors, recurrences and metastases, nanoparticles bind to the macrophage receptors of normal cells and
“quench” their image on magnetic resonance studies. The displacement of these
receptors on abnormal cells causes these malignancies to appear as bright spots.

Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD
Director for the Center for Molecular Imaging Research

Dr.Weissleder, an internationally recognized expert in molecular imaging, has developed a technology that targets normal cells with a specific molecular probe. By virtue of its molecular mechanism of action, the areas infiltrated with malignant cells appear distinctly different on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) — long before they could be detected by conventional studies. Patients at the cancer center are the first to have access to this novel technique.