Clinical MRI-based treatment simulation
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful imaging tool for planning of radiation therapy treatments. Treatment planning is a process that uses 3D images of the patient as a backdrop for designing the delivery of X-ray radiation to kill cancer cells, and for calculating the predicted radiation dose. Clear visualization of tumour and healthy tissue is essential to this process, and MRI is our best option. Our objective is to optimize the imaging for accurate planning.
(Ives Levesque)
Avoiding MRI image distortion
Our objective is to produce the most accurate images for use in radiation therapy treatment planning. The spatial geometry of MRI suffers from small inaccuracies, known as “image distortion”, and these distortions can lead to errors in treatment planning. The way in which we produce the images must be carefully designed to avoid this problem. Corrections are also applied after these images are acquired.
(Mithunan Modchalingam, Ives Levesque)
Tissue heterogeneity from MRI quantitative susceptibility mapping
An accurate calculation of the radiation therapy dose requires information about the patient anatomy and how it reacts to X-rays. This information is normally derived from a computed tomography (CT) scan. We are investigating ways to obtain the same information from MRI.
(Véronique Fortier, Ives Levesque)
