Quantifying effects of radiotherapy-induced microvascular injury; review of established and emerging brain MRI techniques.

Quantifying effects of radiotherapy-induced microvascular injury; review of established and emerging brain MRI techniques. Radiother Oncol. 2019 Jun 05;140:41-53 Authors: Kłos J, van Laar PJ, Sinnige PF, Enting RH, Kramer MCA, van der Weide HL, van Buchem MA, Dierckx RAJO, Borra RJH, van der Hoorn A Abstract Microvascular changes are increasingly recognised not only as primary drivers of radiotherapy treatment response in brain tumours, but also as an important contributor to short- and long-term (cognitive) side effects arising from irradiation of otherwise healthy brain tissue. As overall survival of patients with brain tumours is increasing, monitoring long-term sequels of radiotherapy-induced microvascular changes in the context of their potential predictive power for outcome, such as cognitive disability, has become increasingly relevant. Ideally, radiotherapy-induced significant microvascular changes in otherwise healthy brain tissue should be identified as early as possible to facilitate adaptive radiotherapy and to proactively start treatment to minimise the influence on these side-effects on the final outcome. Although MRI is already known to be able to detect significant long-term radiotherapy induced microvascular effects, more recently advanced MR imaging biomarkers reflecting microvascular integrity and function have been reported and might provide a more accurate and earlier detection of microvascular changes. However,...
Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Radiother Oncol Source Type: research