Nkiruka Atuegwu1,
2, Lori R. Arlinghaus1, Xia Li1, A. Bapsi
Chakravarthy3, Richard G. Abramson1, 2,
Vandana G. Abramson4, Thomas E. Yankeelov1, 2
1Institute
of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Radiology,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 3Radiation Oncology,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 4Medical
Oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
DCE-MRI, DW-MRI, and FDG-PET can provide information on tumor perfusion, microvascular vessel wall permeability, blood volume fractions, cellularity and glucose consumption. These data were collected in breast cancer patients using separate MRI and PET scanners at multiple time points during neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Using a combination of rigid and non-rigid registration algorithms developed in our laboratory we were able to successful align these data to a common imaging space while keeping the tumor size and shape from being substantially altered. The ability to integrate such data may provide unique insights into tumor status and therapy monitoring.