Response assessment in head & neck cancer using multi-parametric MRI
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The accuracy of quantitative diffusion weighted MRI in the prediction of locoregional residual disease following radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer
IRAS ID
136350
Contact name
Stephen E J Connor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Cancer at specific sites within the mouth and throat (also termed head and neck cancer), is primarily treated by radiation or chemoradiation therapy with surgical intervention being reserved for salvage. However, residual/recurrent disease post radiation or chemoradiation (which occurs in 30-50% of cases) may be difficult to detect clinically. With the resulting late manifestation of recurrent disease, a window of opportunity for curative treatment/surgical salvage may be missed. Early surveillance imaging post treatment is required to achieve earlier detection, earlier intervention and survival benefit. Recent approaches have focused on the use of metabolic imaging with PET and PET-CT in the post treatment assessment, however false positive results may occur due to post treatment inflammatory change. The current proposal is to assess whether the addition of a new MRI sequence (diffusion weighted MRI) and an associated measurement of the movement of water molecules within the cancer (ADC) can distinguish those patients with residual active locoregional disease from those cured of cancer, thus improving the accuracy of treatment response assessment of our current standard imaging.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/1876
Date of REC Opinion
24 Dec 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion