The data show that for evaluable treatments, excellent correlation (deltaT < 1 degrees C) of MRTI-ROI and invasive measurements can be achieved, but that motion and other artifacts are still serious challenges that must be overcome in future work.
Purpose: We assessed the safety and efficacy of synchronous VEGF and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) blockade with concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) in locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC).Experimental Design: Newly diagnosed patients with stage III/IV HNC received a 2-week lead-in of bevacizumab and/or erlotinib, followed by both agents with concurrent cisplatin and twice daily radiotherapy. Safety was assessed using Common Toxicity Criteria version 3.0. The primary efficacy endpoint was clinical complete response (CR) rate after CRT.Results: Twenty-nine patients enrolled on study, with 27 completing therapy. Common grade III toxicities were mucositis (n ¼ 14), dysphagia (n ¼ 8), dehydration (n ¼ 7), osteoradionecrosis (n ¼ 3), and soft tissue necrosis (n ¼ 2). Feeding tube placement was required in 79% but no patient remained dependent at 12-month posttreatment. Clinical CR after CRT was 96% [95% confidence interval (CI), 82%-100%]. Median follow-up was 46 months in survivors, with 3-year locoregional control and distant metastasis-free survival rates of 85% and 93%. Three-year estimated progression-free survival, diseasespecific survival, and overall survival rates were 82%, 89%, and 86%, respectively. Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) analysis showed that patients who had failed had lower baseline pretreatment median K trans values, with subsequent increases after lead-in therapy and 1 week of CRT. Patients who did not fail had higher median K trans values that decreased during therapy.Conclusions: Dual VEGF/EGFR inhibition can be integrated with CRT in locally advanced HNC, with efficacy that compares favorably with historical controls albeit with an increased risk of osteoradionecrosis. Pretreatment and early DCE-MRI may prospectively identify patients at high risk of failure.
This paper describes a heterogeneous phantom that mimics a human thigh with a deep seated tumor, for the purpose of studying the performance of radiofrequency (RF) heating equipment and non-invasive temperature monitoring with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The heterogeneous cylindrical phantom was constructed with an outer fat layer surrounding an inner core of phantom material mimicking muscle, tumor and marrow-filled bone. The component materials were formulated to have dielectric and thermal properties similar to human tissues. The dielectric properties of the tissue-mimicking phantom materials were measured with a microwave vector network analyzer and impedance probe over the frequency range of 80 – 500 MHz and at temperatures of 24°C, 37°C, and 45°C. The specific heat values of the component materials were measured using a differential scanning calorimeter over the temperature range of 15 – 55°C. The thermal conductivity value was obtained from fitting the curves obtained from one-dimensional heat transfer measurement. The phantom was used to verify the operation of a cylindrical 4-antenna annular phased array extremity applicator (140 MHz), by examining the proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS) thermal imaging patterns for various magnitude/phase settings (including settings to focus heating in tumor). For muscle and tumor materials, MR imaging was also used to measure T1/T2* values (1.5 Tesla) and to obtain the slope of the PRFS phase change vs. temperature change curve. The dielectric and thermal properties of the phantom materials were in close agreement to well-accepted published results for human tissues. The phantom was able to successfully demonstrate satisfactory operation of the tested heating equipment. The MRI-measured thermal distributions matched the expected patterns for various magnitude/phase settings of the applicator, allowing the phantom to be used as a quality assurance tool. Importantly, the material formulations for the various tissue types may be used to construct customized phantoms that are tailored for different anatomical sites.
The information provided by functional images may be used to guide radiotherapy planning by identifying regions that require higher radiation dose. In this work we investigate the dosimetric feasibility of delivering dose to lung tumors in proportion to the fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose activity distribution from positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). The rationale for delivering dose in proportion to the tumor FDG-PET activity distribution is based on studies showing that FDG uptake is correlated to tumor cell proliferation rate, which is shown to imply that this dose delivery strategy is theoretically capable of providing the same duration of local control at all voxels in tumor. Target dose delivery was constrained by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) maps of normal lung perfusion, which restricted irradiation of highly perfused lung and imposed dose-function constraints. Dose-volume constraints were imposed on all other critical structures. All dose-volume/function constraints were considered to be soft, i.e., critical structure doses corresponding to volume/function constraint levels were minimized while satisfying the target prescription, thus permitting critical structure doses to minimally exceed dose constraint levels. An intensity modulation optimization methodology was developed to deliver this radiation, and applied to two lung cancer patients. Dosimetric feasibility was assessed by comparing spatially normalized dose-volume histograms from the nonuniform dose prescription (FDG-PET proportional) to those from a uniform dose prescription with equivalent tumor integral dose. In both patients, the optimization was capable of delivering the nonuniform target prescription with the same ease as the uniform target prescription, despite SPECT restrictions that effectively diverted dose from high to low perfused normal lung. In one patient, both prescriptions incurred similar critical structure dosages, below dose-volume/function limits. However, in the other patient, critical structure dosage from the nonuniform dose prescription exceeded dose-volume/function limits, and greatly exceeded that from the uniform dose prescription. Strict compliance to dose-volume/ function limits would entail reducing dose proportionality to the FDG-PET activity distribution, thereby theoretically reducing the duration of local control. Thus, even though it appears feasible to tailor lung tumor dose to the FDG-PET activity distribution, despite SPECT restrictions, strict adherence to dose-volume/function limits could compromise the effectiveness of functional image guided radiotherapy.
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