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García-Figueiras R, Baleato-González S, Luna A, Padhani AR, Vilanova JC, Carballo-Castro AM, Oleaga-Zufiria L, Vallejo-Casas JA, Marhuenda A, Gómez-Caamaño A. How Imaging Advances Are Defining the Future of Precision Radiation Therapy. Radiographics 2024; 44:e230152. [PMID: 38206833 DOI: 10.1148/rg.230152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Radiation therapy is fundamental in the treatment of cancer. Imaging has always played a central role in radiation oncology. Integrating imaging technology into irradiation devices has increased the precision and accuracy of dose delivery and decreased the toxic effects of the treatment. Although CT has become the standard imaging modality in radiation therapy, the development of recently introduced next-generation imaging techniques has improved diagnostic and therapeutic decision making in radiation oncology. Functional and molecular imaging techniques, as well as other advanced imaging modalities such as SPECT, yield information about the anatomic and biologic characteristics of tumors for the radiation therapy workflow. In clinical practice, they can be useful for characterizing tumor phenotypes, delineating volumes, planning treatment, determining patients' prognoses, predicting toxic effects, assessing responses to therapy, and detecting tumor relapse. Next-generation imaging can enable personalization of radiation therapy based on a greater understanding of tumor biologic factors. It can be used to map tumor characteristics, such as metabolic pathways, vascularity, cellular proliferation, and hypoxia, that are known to define tumor phenotype. It can also be used to consider tumor heterogeneity by highlighting areas at risk for radiation resistance for focused biologic dose escalation, which can impact the radiation planning process and patient outcomes. The authors review the possible contributions of next-generation imaging to the treatment of patients undergoing radiation therapy. In addition, the possible roles of radio(geno)mics in radiation therapy, the limitations of these techniques, and hurdles in introducing them into clinical practice are discussed. ©RSNA, 2024 Test Your Knowledge questions for this article are available in the supplemental material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto García-Figueiras
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Sandra Baleato-González
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Antonio Luna
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Anwar R Padhani
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Joan C Vilanova
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Ana M Carballo-Castro
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Laura Oleaga-Zufiria
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Juan Antonio Vallejo-Casas
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Ana Marhuenda
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
| | - Antonio Gómez-Caamaño
- From the Department of Radiology, Division of Oncologic Imaging (R.G.F., S.B.G.), and Department of Radiation Oncology (A.M.C.C., A.G.C.), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Choupana s/n, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Department of Advanced Medical Imaging, Grupo Health Time, Sercosa (Servicio Radiologia Computerizada, Clínica Las Nieves, Jaén, Spain (A.L.); Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, Middlesex, England (A.R.P.); Department of Radiology, Clínica Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina, Girona, Spain (J.C.V.); Department of Radiology, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (L.O.Z.); Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain (J.A.V.C.); and Department of Radiology, Instituto Valenciano de Oncología, Valencia, Spain (A.M.)
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Bielak L, Henrik Nicolay N, Ludwig U, Lottner T, Rühle A, Grosu AL, Bock M. Improvement of diffusion weighted MRI by practical B 0 homogenization for head & neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Phys Med 2022; 97:59-65. [PMID: 35413606 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2022.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND MRI is a frequently used tool in radiation therapy planning. For MR-based tumor segmentation, diffusion weighted imaging plays a major role, which can fail due to excessive image artifacts for head and neck cancer imaging. Here, an easy-to-use setup is presented for imaging of head and neck cancer patients in a radiotherapy thermoplastic fixation mask. METHODS In a prospective head and neck cancer study, MRI data of 29 patients has been acquired at 3 different time points during radiation treatment. The data was analyzed with respect to Nyquist ghosting artifacts in the diffusion images in conventional single shot and readout segmented EPI sequences. For 9 patients, an improved setup with water bags for B0 homogenization was used, and the impact on artifact frequency was analyzed. Additionally, volunteer measurements with B0 fieldmaps are presented. RESULTS The placement of water bags to the sides of the head during MRI measurements significantly reduces artefacts in diffusion MRI. The number of artifact-free images in readout segmented EPI increased from 74% to 95% of the cases. Volunteer measurements showed a significant increase in B0 homogeneity across slices (head foot direction) as well as within each slice. CONCLUSIONS The placement of water bags for B0 homogenization is easy to implement, cost-efficient and does not impact patient comfort. Therefore, if very sophisticated soft- or hardware solutions are not present at a given site, or cannot be implemented due to restrictions from the thermoplastic mask, this is an excellent alternative to reduce artifacts in diffusion weighted imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Bielak
- Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Nils Henrik Nicolay
- Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ute Ludwig
- Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Lottner
- Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Alexander Rühle
- Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Anca-Ligia Grosu
- Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Michael Bock
- Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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Bielak L, Wiedenmann N, Nicolay NH, Lottner T, Fischer J, Bunea H, Grosu AL, Bock M. Automatic Tumor Segmentation With a Convolutional Neural Network in Multiparametric MRI: Influence of Distortion Correction. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020; 5:292-299. [PMID: 31572790 PMCID: PMC6752289 DOI: 10.18383/j.tom.2019.00010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Precise tumor segmentation is a crucial task in radiation therapy planning. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are among the highest scoring automatic approaches for tumor segmentation. We investigate the difference in segmentation performance of geometrically distorted and corrected diffusion-weighted data using data of patients with head and neck tumors; 18 patients with head and neck tumors underwent multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging, including T2w, T1w, T2*, perfusion (ktrans), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements. Owing to strong geometrical distortions in diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging in the head and neck region, ADC data were additionally distortion corrected. To investigate the influence of geometrical correction, first 14 CNNs were trained on data with geometrically corrected ADC and another 14 CNNs were trained using data without the correction on different samples of 13 patients for training and 4 patients for validation each. The different sets were each trained from scratch using randomly initialized weights, but the training data distributions were pairwise equal for corrected and uncorrected data. Segmentation performance was evaluated on the remaining 1 test-patient for each of the 14 sets. The CNN segmentation performance scored an average Dice coefficient of 0.40 ± 0.18 for data including distortion-corrected ADC and 0.37 ± 0.21 for uncorrected data. Paired t test revealed that the performance was not significantly different (P = .313). Thus, geometrical distortion on diffusion-weighted imaging data in patients with head and neck tumor does not significantly impair CNN segmentation performance in use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Bielak
- Radiology, Medical Physics.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Nicole Wiedenmann
- Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Nils Henrik Nicolay
- Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | | | | | - Hatice Bunea
- Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Anca-Ligia Grosu
- Radiation Oncology, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Michael Bock
- Radiology, Medical Physics.,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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