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Review
. 2020 May:146:66-75.
doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2020.01.026. Epub 2020 Feb 27.

Quantitative imaging for radiotherapy purposes

Oliver J Gurney-Champion  1 , Faisal Mahmood  2 , Marcel van Schie  3 , Robert Julian  4 , Ben George  5 , Marielle E P Philippens  6 , Uulke A van der Heide  3 , Daniela Thorwarth  7 , Kathrine R Redalen  8
Affiliations
Review

Quantitative imaging for radiotherapy purposes

Oliver J Gurney-Champion et al. Radiother Oncol. 2020 May.

Abstract

Quantitative imaging biomarkers show great potential for use in radiotherapy. Quantitative images based on microscopic tissue properties and tissue function can be used to improve contouring of the radiotherapy targets. Furthermore, quantitative imaging biomarkers might be used to predict treatment response for several treatment regimens and hence be used as a tool for treatment stratification, either to determine which treatment modality is most promising or to determine patient-specific radiation dose. Finally, patient-specific radiation doses can be further tailored to a tissue/voxel specific radiation dose when quantitative imaging is used for dose painting. In this review, published standards, guidelines and recommendations on quantitative imaging assessment using CT, PET and MRI are discussed. Furthermore, critical issues regarding the use of quantitative imaging for radiation oncology purposes and resultant pending research topics are identified.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Multimodal imaging; Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging; Positron-emission tomography; Radiotherapy; Review; Tumor.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Diagnostic (left) and radiotherapy (right) setup for different modalities (MRI top two rows and PET bottom row) for different indications (from top to bottom: abdomen, head and neck, abdomen).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Examples of different quantitative images taken from a single patient with head and neck tumour (pink contour) and a metastatic lymph node (red contour). Top row shows diffusion-weighted MRI (apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC [10−3 mm2/s]) and relaxometry (T2* and T1 time constants [ms]), second and third row show dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (fractional volumes of extracellular extravascular space Ve and plasma Vp, influx mass transfer rates of gadolinium from plasma to the extracellular extravascular space Ktrans [min−1] and reflux rate from the extracellular extravascular space to the plasma Kep [min−1]), CT [HU] and PET (18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) [g/ml]). Three sets of contours of the primary target (pink) and lymph node (red) were drawn, one on the deformed DW-MRI, one on the registered PET/CT and one for the remaining MRI. Images were taken as part of the INSIGHT trial , . (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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