Functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques and their development for radiation therapy planning and monitoring in the head and neck cancers

Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery

Jing Yuan²  Ann D. King¹  Gladys Lo³ 

[1] Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China;Department of Medical Physics and Research,Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China;

关键词: Head and neck cancer (HNC);    magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);    radiation therapy (RT);    diffusion;    perfusion;    metabolism;    hypoxia;   

DOI  :  10.21037/qims.2016.06.11

学科分类：外科医学

来源: AME Publications

【 摘 要 】

Radiation therapy (RT), in particular intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), is becoming a more important nonsurgical treatment strategy in head and neck cancer (HNC). The further development of IMRT imposes more critical requirements on clinical imaging, and these requirements cannot be fully fulfilled by the existing radiotherapeutic imaging workhorse of X-ray based imaging methods. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has increasingly gained more interests from radiation oncology community and holds great potential for RT applications, mainly due to its non-ionizing radiation nature and superior soft tissue image contrast. Beyond anatomical imaging, MRI provides a variety of functional imaging techniques to investigate the functionality and metabolism of living tissue. The major purpose of this paper is to give a concise and timely review of some advanced functional MRI techniques that may potentially benefit conformal, tailored and adaptive RT in the HNC. The basic principle of each functional MRI technique is briefly introduced and their use in RT of HNC is described. Limitation and future development of these functional MRI techniques for HNC radiotherapeutic applications are discussed. More rigorous studies are warranted to translate the hypotheses into credible evidences in order to establish the role of functional MRI in the clinical practice of head and neck radiation oncology.

【 授权许可】

Unknown