Targeted iron oxide nanoprobe plus nnU-Net improves HER2-positive tumor MRI contrast and delineation

A trastuzumab-targeted ultrasmall iron-oxide MRI nanoprobe plus 3D nnU-Net post-processing yielded a 2.59-fold higher tumor-to-normal ratio and Dice 0.93 for HER2-positive breast tumor boundary delineation.

• The nanoprobe is pH-responsive: relaxivity r1 increased from 1.43 mM-1s-1 under physiological conditions to 4.07 mM-1s-1 in the acidic tumor microenvironment.
• 3D nnU-Net was used as a post-processing visualization aid via image fusion rather than to amplify the underlying MRI signal.
• The platform enabled 3D tumor model reconstruction for intuitive visualization and surgical guidance.

Automated summary

RadPigeon summaries are original and for information only. They are not clinical advice.