title: Magnetic resonance imaging for planning intracavitary brachytherapy for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer.
abstract: Cervical cancer is the third most common gynecological cancer. Its treatment depends on tumor staging at the time of diagnosis, and a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is the treatment of choice in locally advanced cervical cancers. The combined use of external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy increases survival in these patients. Brachytherapy enables a larger dose of radiation to be delivered to the tumor with less toxicity for neighboring tissues with less toxicity for neighboring tissues compared to the use of external beam radiotherapy alone. For years, brachytherapy was planned exclusively using computed tomography (CT). The recent incorporation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides essential information about the tumor and neighboring structures making possible to better define the target volumes. Nevertheless, MRI has limitations, some of which can be compensated for by fusing CT and MRI. Fusing the images from the two techniques ensures optimal planning by combining the advantages of each technique.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Radiología, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oñate Miranda
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wardak
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Albuquerque
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos; Advanced Imaging Research Center. University of Texas. Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos. Electronic address: ivan.pedrosa@utsouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pedrosa
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy
keywords: Brachytherapy; Braquiterapia; Cervical cancer; Cáncer de cérvix; Magnetic resonance imaging; Resonancia magnética