Detecting and monitoring tumors in orthotopic colorectal liver metastatic animal models with high-resolution ultrasound

The ability to noninvasively detect and monitor the growth of orthotopic liver transplantation tumors is critical for replicating advanced colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLMs) in animal models. We assessed the use of high-resolution ultrasound (HRU) to monitor CRLMs transplanted using various cell concentrations. Sixty BALB/c female mice were randomly divided into 3 groups, and murine colonic CT26 cells were injected into the left liver lobe at concentrations of 1 × 10 2 (group 1), 1 × 10 3 (group 2), or 1 × 10 4 (group 3). Tumor presentation, location, number, size, shape, and echogenicity were assessed daily with 24-MHz center frequency HRU starting 6 days after injection. Animals were sacrificed when the largest tumor was ≥ 1 cm in diameter. Sensitivity, specificity, and area under curve (AUC) of CRLMs diagnosed with HRU were calculated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. In group 1, 94% of mice formed < 5 tumors, and 41% formed a single tumor. Tumors were first detected with HRU on day 12 in group 1, day 10 in group 2, and day 7 in group 3; tumor volume doubling times were 14–15 days, 11–12 days, and 7–8 days, respectively. With a long diameter threshold of 2.4 mm, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of HRU were 94.1% and 88.7%, respectively, and the AUC was 0.962. These findings suggest that HRU can be used to accurately detect and monitor the growth of CRLMs in an orthotopic transplantation mouse model, especially when a lower concentration of cells is used.