Monitoring Tumor Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy with DWI

EasyChair Preprint 14166

Abstract

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy has become an important treatment approach for patients with locally advanced solid tumors, such as rectal, esophageal, and head and neck cancers. This multimodal therapy aims to downstage the primary tumor and eradicate micrometastatic disease prior to definitive surgical resection. However, accurately evaluating the tumor's response to neoadjuvant treatment remains a significant challenge.
Conventional imaging techniques, such as anatomical MRI and CT, have limitations in assessing early changes in tumor biology and predicting pathological response. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), a functional MRI technique, has emerged as a promising tool for monitoring tumor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. DWI provides information about the microscopic movement of water molecules within the tumor, which can reflect changes in cellular density and microstructure induced by treatment.
The quantitative parameters derived from DWI, such as the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), have been shown to correlate with various pathological markers of treatment response. Increases in ADC values during or after neoadjuvant therapy have been associated with favorable tumor regression, while persistently low ADC values may indicate poor response and the need for alternative treatment strategies.
This review will discuss the principles of DWI, its advantages in assessing tumor response, and the current evidence on the clinical applications of DWI for monitoring neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in different solid tumor types. The practical considerations and future directions in the use of DWI for response evaluation will also be addressed.

Keyphrases: cancer, citations, health sciences

@booklet{EasyChair:14166,
  author    = {Joseph Bayo Shalom},
  title     = {Monitoring Tumor Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy with DWI},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 14166},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}