title: Hypoxia in head and neck cancer in theory and practice: a PET-based imaging approach.
abstract: Hypoxia plays an important role in tumour recurrence among head and neck cancer patients. The identification and quantification of hypoxic regions are therefore an essential aspect of disease management. Several predictive assays for tumour oxygenation status have been developed in the past with varying degrees of success. To date, functional imaging techniques employing positron emission tomography (PET) have been shown to be an important tool for both pretreatment assessment and tumour response evaluation during therapy. Hypoxia-specific PET markers have been implemented in several clinics to quantify hypoxic tumour subvolumes for dose painting and personalized treatment planning and delivery. Several new radiotracers are under investigation. PET-derived functional parameters and tracer pharmacokinetics serve as valuable input data for computational models aiming at simulating or interpreting PET acquired data, for the purposes of input into treatment planning or radio/chemotherapy response prediction programs. The present paper aims to cover the current status of hypoxia imaging in head and neck cancer together with the justification for the need and the role of computer models based on PET parameters in understanding patient-specific tumour behaviour.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania ; School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
authors.forename: Loredana G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Marcu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia ; Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
authors.forename: Wendy M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Harriss-Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania.
authors.forename: Sanda M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Filip
mesh_terms: D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals