title: A simple, reproducible method for monitoring the treatment of tumours using dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging.
abstract: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) may act as a biomarker for successful cancer therapy. Simple, reproducible techniques may widen this application. This paper demonstrates a single slice imaging technique. The image acquisition is performed in less than 500 ms making it relatively insensitive to respiratory motion. Data from phantom studies and a reproducibility study in solid human tumours are presented. The reproducibility study showed a coefficient of variation (CoV) of 19.1% for K(trans) and 15.8% for the initial area under the contrast enhancement curve (IAUC). This was improved to 16 and 13.9% if tumours of diameter less than 3 cm were excluded. The individual repeatability (the range within which individual measurements are expected to fall) was 30.6% for K(trans) and 26.5% for IAUC for tumours greater than 3 cm diameter. This approach to DCE-MRI image acquisition can be performed with standard clinical scanners, and data analysis is straightforward. For treatment trials with 10 patients in a cohort, the CoV implies that the method would be sensitive to a treatment effect of greater than 18%. The individual repeatability is well inside the 40% change shown to be important in clinical studies using this DCE-MRI technique.
authors: Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, University of Leicester, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK. bm11@le.ac.uk
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Morgan
authors: J F
authors: JF
authors: Utting
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Higginson
authors: A L
authors: AL
authors: Thomas
authors: W P
authors: WP
authors: Steward
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Horsfield