1Radiation Medicine Program, Princess
Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Medical Imaging,
University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3Medical
Imaging, University of Toronto
Apparent
diffusion coefficent (ADC) increases with cytoxic interventions, and may
provide an early response biomarker for prostate radiotherapy. This study
evaluated prostate zonal and tumor ADC using clinically normal and high
b-values in low/intermediate risk patients at baseline and at 2-week
intervals throughout their 8-week radiation treatment. Central gland ADC
elevated moderately but significantly throughout treatment, while uninvolved
peripheral zone ADC trended towards a late reduction. Tumor ADC was elevated in all follow-up
scans, to 15% at week 8. SNR analysis
at each b-value identified the minimum region volume for noise-insensitive
measurements, to guide protocol design for future voxel-based assessment.