This book provides, for the first time, a unified approach to the application of MRI in radiotherapy that incorporates both a physics and a clinical perspective. Readers will find detailed information and guidance on the role of MRI in all aspects of treatment, from dose planning, with or without CT, through to response assessment. Extensive coverage is devoted to the latest technological developments and emerging options. These include hybrid MRI treatment systems, such as MRI-Linac and proton-guided systems, which are ushering in an era of real-time MRI guidance.
The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the use of MRI in the radiation treatment of cancer. The development of highly conformal dose delivery techniques has led to a growing need to harness advanced imaging for patient treatment. With its flexible soft tissue contrast and ability to acquire functional information, MRI offers advantages at all stages of treatment. In documenting the state of the art in thefield, this book will be of value to a wide range of professionals. The authors are international experts drawn from the scientific committee of the 2017 MR in RT symposium and the faculty of the ESTRO teaching course on imaging for physicists.
Professor Gary Liney is the senior medical physicist at the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research and Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre, Sydney, Australia. He is providing the scientific lead into the MRI-simulator and MRI-Linac programs at Liverpool. Gary is a recognised expert in the use and integration of MRI techniques into radiotherapy planning, and published over 70 scientific papers and three textbooks. He has taught on the ESTRO imaging for physicists’ course since its inception in 2010. He is currently leading the investigations on the Australian phase 2 MRI-Linac system using a dedicated split bore open magnet to provide real-time MRI guided therapy.
Professor Uulke van der Heide works as a medical physicist and group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He holds a chair as professor of imaging technology in radiotherapy at the Leiden University. He was the course director on the ESTRO imagingfor physicists’ course until 2017. His research group works on the improvement of target definition in radiotherapy by application of MRI and the development and validation of quantitative imaging methods for tumour characterization for radiotherapy dose painting. He further leads the MR-guided radiotherapy program at the Netherlands Cancer Institute.
