Comparison of computed tomography and magnetic resonance based target volume in brain tumors.
OBJECTIVE
This study was mainly framed to study the difference in tumor volumes as seen on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) and their significance in planning.


METHODS
Twenty-five patients with brain tumor of different diagnoses who underwent stereotactic radiotherapy were included in this study. CT and MR imaging was done for all the patients with 2.5 mm slice thickness. The CT tumor volume and MR tumor volume were measured and compared with each other. The center of mass (CM) of the tumor volume delineated on CT and MR were computed and the shift between the two CMs was determined.


RESULTS
The mean and median volume of the tumor as measured from MR scans was 19.67 cc +/- 13.73 and 16.13 cc (range: 3.25 cc-50.37 cc). Similarly, the mean and median volume of the tumor as measured from CT scans was 15.05 cc +/- 10.13 and 11.63 cc (range: 3.0 cc-36.25 cc) respectively. The mean and median CM shift between CT and MR was 5.47 mm and 5.21 mm respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The study demonstrates that MR is an indispensable imaging modality in radiotherapy for planning brain tumors.
Prabhakar
R
R
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi-110 029, India. prabhakar_smr@hotmail.com
Haresh
K P
KP
Ganesh
T
T
Joshi
R C
RC
Julka
P K
PK
Rath
G K
GK
D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016634:Radiosurgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed