The future of MRI in radiation therapy: Challenges and opportunities for the MR community.
Rosie J GoodburnMarielle E P PhilippensThierry L LefebvreAly KhalifaTom BruijnenJoshua N FreedmanDavid E J WaddingtonEyesha YounusEric AliottaGabriele MeliadòTeodor StanescuWajiha BanoAli Fatemi-ArdekaniAndreas WetscherekUwe OelfkeCornelis Nico A T van den BergRalph P MasonPetra J van HoudtJames M BalterOliver J Gurney-ChampionPublished in: Magnetic resonance in medicine (2022)
Radiation therapy is a major component of cancer treatment pathways worldwide. The main aim of this treatment is to achieve tumor control through the delivery of ionizing radiation while preserving healthy tissues for minimal radiation toxicity. Because radiation therapy relies on accurate localization of the target and surrounding tissues, imaging plays a crucial role throughout the treatment chain. In the treatment planning phase, radiological images are essential for defining target volumes and organs-at-risk, as well as providing elemental composition (e.g., electron density) information for radiation dose calculations. At treatment, onboard imaging informs patient setup and could be used to guide radiation dose placement for sites affected by motion. Imaging is also an important tool for treatment response assessment and treatment plan adaptation. MRI, with its excellent soft tissue contrast and capacity to probe functional tissue properties, holds great untapped potential for transforming treatment paradigms in radiation therapy. The MR in Radiation Therapy ISMRM Study Group was established to provide a forum within the MR community to discuss the unmet needs and fuel opportunities for further advancement of MRI for radiation therapy applications. During the summer of 2021, the study group organized its first virtual workshop, attended by a diverse international group of clinicians, scientists, and clinical physicists, to explore our predictions for the future of MRI in radiation therapy for the next 25 years. This article reviews the main findings from the event and considers the opportunities and challenges of reaching our vision for the future in this expanding field.
Keyphrases
- radiation therapy
- contrast enhanced
- magnetic resonance imaging
- high resolution
- magnetic resonance
- mental health
- oxidative stress
- computed tomography
- randomized controlled trial
- systematic review
- radiation induced
- soft tissue
- mass spectrometry
- deep learning
- molecular dynamics
- optical coherence tomography
- risk assessment
- smoking cessation
- diffusion weighted imaging
- high speed
- living cells
- density functional theory
- single molecule