Combining both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed
tomography (CT) reveals tumor motion and lung motion in general, a new study
shows.
Researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology, and
Research (A*STAR, Singapore) have discovered a way to produce high quality
images of the lungs during the breathing movement. Usually tumors in the lungs
are in constant motion, due to the patients breathing; so treating them with
high energy X-Rays can be quite complex. However, with this new hybrid method,
it will significantly aid physicians when they target tumors in lungs during
radiotherapy.
The scientists at A*STAR have combined the two techniques of
CT (which provides high resolution snapshots, but is not able to track continuous
motion and produces radiation safety concerns,) and 4D-MRI (which does not
yield any harmful radiation and does allow for continuous tracking of lung
motion but produces blurred images,) to take advantage the best of both worlds
– high resolution images that accurately track lung movement during breathing.
Mathematically combining the image from the computed
tomography scanner with the four dimensional images obtained by the MRI,
resulted in a high resolution that showed lung tumor movement over several
breathing cycles.
Testing out their new technique on six cancer patients, it
proved quite successful – the average error was less than two millimeters. The
first information released on the new hybrid technique was published in the
August 2015 Medical Physics.
Depending on how well the technique goes with obtaining the
backing from medical equipment companies and meeting the mandatory
requirements, the researchers may develop the technique for use on other
organs, such as the liver, and combine it with different imaging methods to
produce more comprehensive data sets.
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