Technical developments in treating cancerous tumours with radiation have come a long way. But there can be big differences in people’s resistance to side effects and also in tumours’ various responses to treatment. Therefore, the challenges with MRI-technology today lie in studying the biology of the individual tumour in order to adjust the radiation accordingly. An ongoing clinical project at Umeå University Hospital, is aiming to further develop this technique.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) has been used to diagnose different diseases and medical conditions for the past fifteen years. However, so far it has only been possible to establish the presence of a tumour, not details about its character. Therefore, radiation has been performed with the same intensity on all parts of the tumour. The general purpose of radiation treatment is to disable the cancer cells with the least possible effect on contiguous tissue. One problem is that individuals are differently sensitive to the side effects of radiation and another that all parts of the same tumour may not respond to treatment in the same way.
Radiation can be performed with high precision and on very specific areas. Mikael Karlsson is a professor and hospital physicist at Umeå University Hospital. He is in charge of the project concerning adaptive picture optimizing of cancer treatment and developing MRI.
“We want to examine what the different parts of the tumour look like, that is if there are certain parts that are more resistant than others, and then follow the treatment process” he explains. Karlsson says treatment can last anywhere from two weeks to three months depending on how the tumour responds to it.
There are a number of different MRI-techniques, giving different kinds of information about the depicted part of the body.
“We are talking about the same machine, just different ways of using it” says Karlsson, “we look at volumes as small as a cubic millimetre” he continues, “and the different MRI-techniques enable us to get information about factors such as cell density and the support of blood vessels.”
The idea is for the technique to be used in order to measure how aggressive different forms of tumours are, both the ones treated with surgery and those treated with radiation.
“Breast cancer for example, is often treated with surgery” Karlsson explains, “but in that case we want to be able to search for metastases to make sure the cancer has not spread.”
Prostate cancer is normally treated with radiation and there the new technology is needed to control that the tumour is responding to the treatment as expected.
A central, national facility for proton treatment is under construction and Karlsson estimates it will be ready around 2012. It is a very expensive instrument for radiation treatment and there will only be one facility in Sweden, given a central location in Uppsala.
“Still, here in Umeå we are rather unique in the field of research we are working on” says Karlsson, “integrating MRI in radiation treatment the way we do is only done at a few places worldwide.”
Today there is a large demand for this type of technique within cancer treatment. With the possibility to track and monitor ongoing treatment to see how effective it is, comes the possibility to make changes before it is too late. In other words, the world has a great interest in Karlsson’s project and academic as well as business collaborations are already well established.
CMTF, c/o Tillämpad fysik och elektronik
Umeå universitet, 901 87 Umeå
Tel: +46 (0)90-786 96 38.
E-post: Britt Andersson.
