The Role of Functional Imaging in Radiotherapy Planning and Management for Gynecologic Malignancies

In addition to allowing much greater technical precision, the modern era allows investigation of target physiology and it is the potential incorporation of physiologic information into the treatment-planning rubric that gives modern PET-CT its allure and promise. Although oncologic PET scanning has been clinically available for more than 10 years, it is only recently that sufficient investigative and retrospective data have become available to confidently assert that future radiotherapy treatment planning will include functional imaging as an obligatory dimension of clinical characterization for most gynecologic tumors. This article explores the role of functional imaging in radiotherapy planning and management of gynecologic malignancies.