New means to monitor ovarian cancer
Feb
15
Written by:
15/02/2012 12:21
Scientists may be able to develop a monitoring system for late-stage ovarian cancer treatments.
Scientists may be able to develop a monitoring system for late-stage ovarian cancer treatments.
A group of scientists funded by Cancer Research UK and operating at the University of Cambridge have established that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be an effective monitoring technique to determine which patients are responding best to treatment. The MRI technique involves measuring the movement of water molecules within the tumour.
The researchers compared three contrasting MRI methods and found that a type called diffusion-weighted MRI was the most effective at registering response to treatment. The technique was also the best at determining when tumours that had spread from the ovaries into surrounding tissues were no longer responding.
Although often used to assess the effectiveness of chemotherapy, CT scans can only distinguish differences in the size of the tumour as opposed to a change in its structure.
Study leader Dr Evis Sala from the University of Cambridge said the results showed diffusion-weighted MRI gave a much clearer image of the density of tumours, making it simpler to establish which patients were responding to treatment.
The study has been published in the journal Radiology.
Copyright Press Association 2012