A Review of Recent Developments in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy in Cervix Cancer

Abstract

Brachytherapy is an essential part of radiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer. Over the decades, it has evolved from manual loading of radium and caesium to remote after-loaders and from low-dose and medium-dose rates to high-dose rates. Over the past 10 years, 3D image-based Brachytherapy has evolved and established itself as the gold standard, improving local control and overall survival, and significantly reducing toxicity. In this article, we review some of the available literature on gynaecologic brachytherapy, more specifically on topics such as dose rates, high-dose-rate/pulsed-dose-rate (HDR/PDR) brachytherapy and image-based brachytherapy (IBBT), and present some of the evidence that establishes IBBT.

Comparative Evaluation of Two-dimensional Radiography and Three Dimensional Computed Tomography Based Dose-volume Parameters for High-dose-rate Intracavitary Brachytherapy of Cervical Cancer: A Prospective Study

“…Newer advances in imaging including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography has significant role in cancer staging and management (Petsuksiri et al, 2012). Given the limitation of two dimensional (2D) treatment planning, threedimensional (3D) image based intracavitary brachytherapy (ICRT) visualizes tumour and adjacent organ and provides improved target coverage, local control and reduced late toxicity (Petsuksiri et al, 2012;Sadozye and Reed, 2012).…”

Dosimetric Comparison between Three-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided and Conventional Two-Dimensional Point A-Based Intracavitary Brachytherapy Planning for Cervical Cancer

“…This involves the dose prescription according to a 3D target tumor volume instead of a fixed reference point, thereby providing better dosage optimization. On the basis of the determination of actual disease extent, 3D imaging—based BT adequately treats tumors with minimal complications in normal tissues as well as predicts the treatment outcomes [7–9]. …”

Nonrigid Medical Image Registration Using an Information Theoretic Measure Based on Arimoto Entropy with Gradient Distributions

“…We selected 60 warping indexes (see parameters m of the warping function in [15]), which were yielded randomly from the interval [1,7]. Consequently, 60 float images were produced based on the 60 deformations for each pair of test volumes and 540 nonrigid trials of three pairs of brain MR volumes for NJAD-GD, JAD, and MI algorithms in total.…”

“…Volume registration is an essential task of image processing, especially in medical field, such as aiding diagnosis, surgical applications, and image-guided radiation therapy [1,2]. The images to be registered are generally obtained at different times and from different imaging sensors, namely, multi-modality imaging.…”