Tumour response prediction by diffusion-weighted MR imaging: ready for clinical use?

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Anatomical imaging is standard for evaluating anticancer therapy efficacy.
• This method is suboptimal for novel treatments like targeted therapy.
• Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) offers functional assessment for early response prediction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the literature on clinical DWI for predicting anticancer therapy response.
• To assess DWI's role in monitoring treatment response in cancer patients.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of clinical DWI studies.
• Included studies focused on cancer patients and response prediction/monitoring.
• Analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in relation to treatment response.

Main Results:

• 24 studies met the inclusion criteria.
• Most studies found correlations between ADC values and treatment response.
• Increased ADC during treatment generally indicated response.

Conclusions:

• DWI has demonstrated potential for early monitoring of anticancer therapy response.
• Lack of reproducibility and standardization hinders validation.
• Addressing these issues is crucial before widespread clinical adoption of DWI.