Positron-emission tomography-guided radiation therapy: Ongoing projects and future hopes.

Positron-emission tomography-guided radiation therapy: Ongoing projects and future hopes. Cancer Radiother. 2020 Apr 01;: Authors: Giraud N, Popinat G, Regaieg H, Tonnelet D, Vera P Abstract Radiation therapy has undergone significant advances these last decades, particularly thanks to technical improvements, computer science and a better ability to define the target volumes via morphological and functional imaging breakthroughs. Imaging contributes to all three stages of patient care in radiation oncology: before, during and after treatment. Before the treatment, the choice of optimal imaging type and, if necessary, the adequate functional tracer will allow a better definition of the volume target. During radiation therapy, image-guidance aims at locating the tumour target and tailoring the volume target to anatomical and tumoral variations. Imaging systems are now integrated with conventional accelerators, and newer accelerators have techniques allowing tumour tracking during the irradiation. More recently, MRI-guided systems have been developed, and are already active in a few French centres. Finally, after radiotherapy, imaging plays a major role in most patients' monitoring, and must take into account post-radiation tissue modification specificities. In this review, we will focus on the ongoing projects of nuclear imaging in oncology, and how they can help the radiation oncologist to better treat patients. To this end, a literat...
Source: Cancer Radiotherapie - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Cancer Radiother Source Type: research