A study has found a special type of MRI where patients inhale 100 per cent oxygen could result in lower radiotherapy doses for cancer patients.
Led by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The University of Manchester, the study, entitled "Oxygen-enhanced MRI detects incidence, onset and heterogeneity of radiation-induced hypoxia modification in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer" focused on a technique called oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI).
It allows scientists to map parts of tumours that had oxygen deficiency - known as hypoxia - in patients with head and neck cancer. Patients with hypoxia in their tumours respond less well to treatment.
Fine-tuning treatment this way will enable patients to receive less damage to healthy tissue.
'We have proved the principle'
The oxygen enhanced imaging provides detail similar to an expensive PET scan, but can be performed on standard - and much cheaper - MRI systems.
Michael Dubec, principal clinical scientist at the University of Manchester and the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Now we have proved the principle, we hope to move on to clinical trials so it can be validated on greater numbers of patients.”
Though the study was performed on patients with head and neck cancer, it suggests that OE-MRI could be useful in patients with other cancers.
'Potentially important for radiotherapy planning'
A set of 27 patients were given OE-MRI scans of their primary and nodal tumours beginning standard chemotherapy or radiotherapy, with additional scans being performed during treatment.
After mathematical modelling, the method was found to help patients whose tumours had reduced levels of hypoxia by the second week.
Professor James O’Connor of the Institute of Cancer Research, London and The University of Manchester led the study.
He said: “Few studies have compared the hypoxia modification observed in both primary tumour and nodal metastases following treatment, or the timing of these changes. So our findings amount to a potentially important way to determine optimum radiotherapy planning for patients with locally advanced disease.”
Funded by Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, The National Institute for Health and Care Research, the study is published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The study was supported by the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the NIHR BRC at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
(Image: Institute of Cancer Research)