Animal models are used to investigate tumor treatments on human xenografts. In order to investigate the efficacy of treatment, tumor growth trends can be analyzed by measuring tumor volumes over time. Currently, the industry standard for calculating tumor volume in animal models is the use of a caliper to measure the tumor in two dimensions, and a basic equation translates these measurements to volume. Our client wanted the mouse tumors to be measured precisely regardless of the lab technician, allow the mouse to be measured above the skin without anesthesia, and provide high throughput results at a reasonable cost.
Measuring tumors with calipers does not account for irregular morphology, resulting in significant human error. It is time-consuming and expensive due to the high number of replicates required to provide reliable data. More involved and costly techniques for measuring tumor volume use advanced medical imaging instruments. These instruments are expensive and hard to access regularly, require the animal subject to be anesthetized, and necessitate extensive image analysis to obtain volume.
