Low-dose ultrasound molecular imaging in mouse tumor model

Targeted microbubbles are currently used as ultrasound contrast agents in pre-clinical studies to visualize disease markers present on the blood vessel endothelium. Rapid clinical translation of targeted microbubble imaging requires a minimization of the diagnostically effective microbubble dose. In this study, we demonstrate an imaging method that improves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for microbubble detection and allows for accurate prediction of VEGFR2 targeting in a murine tumor model at 2.5% of the previously established minimum microbubble dose.