A software prototype for the assessment of tumor treatment response using diffusion and perfusion MR imaging

Abstract

Advanced MRI techniques including diffusion and perfusion weighted imaging, has the potential to provide early surrogate biomarkers to detect, characterize and assess treatment response of tumors. However, the widely accepted Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) are still considered as the gold standard for the evaluation of treatment response in solid tumors, even if according to recent studies RECIST seem to disregard the extent of necrosis, which is the target of all effective locoregional therapies. This is partly due to the fact that measurements of tumor size aren't the best criterion for assessing actual early response. On the other hand, more sophisticated techniques such as the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) and perfusion parameters are usually processed manually and evaluated independently using commercial CAD software, not widely available. In this paper we present an open access extensible software platform providing both diffusion and perfusion analysis in a single, user friendly environment that allows the radiologist to easily and objectively evaluate tumor response to therapy.

Simulating cancer behavior based on in silico modeling and in vivo molecular imaging approaches: Prospects and limitations

“…The former mainly depends on the sophistication of the model addressing each specific cancer type (i.e. even logistic models may be adequate for certain tumor types, but more complex models are required for more heterogeneous tumors and detailed modeling), whereas the later limitation could be overcome if there is a way to parameterize and provide patient-specific information to the model [4] [5].…”