PURPOSE: To evaluate regional and temporal changes in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and T2 relaxation during radiation therapy (RT) in patients with low and intermediate risk localized prostate cancer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventeen patients enrolled on a prospective clinical trial where MRI was acquired every 2 weeks throughout eight weeks of image-guided prostate IMRT (78 Gy/39 fractions). ADC and T2 quantification used entire prostate, central gland, benign peripheral zone, and tumor-dense regions-of-interest, and mean values were evaluated for common response trends.
RESULTS: Overall, the RT responses were greater than volunteer measurement repeatability, and week 6 appeared to be an optimum time-point for early detection. RT effects on the entire prostate were best detected using ADC (5-7% by week 2, P < 0.0125), effects on peripheral zone were best detected using T2 (19% reduction at week 6; P = 0.004) and effects on tumors were best detected using ADC (14% elevation at week 6; P = 0.004).
CONCLUSION: ADC and T2 may be candidate biomarkers of early response to RT warranting further investigation against clinical outcomes.
Written by:
Foltz WD, Wu A, Chung P, Catton C, Bayley A, Milosevic M, Bristow R, Warde P, Simeonov A, Jaffray DA, Haider MA, Ménard C. Are you the author?
Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Hospital, and Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Reference: J Magn Reson Imaging. 2012 Oct 23. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1002/jmri.23885
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23097411
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