An Effective Method for Mapping Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy

The use of a 3-dimensional (3D) variable flip angle (VFA) mapping technique with stack of stars (SOS) trajectory sampling is effective in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT), according to a study published in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

To assess SOS acquisition to detect T1, researchers conducted a phantom study and compared the findings with conventional Cartesian acquisition (CART). Patients underwent 2 scans each at baseline and intertreatment. The repeatability of SOS and CART acquisitions was assessed by comparing the T1 measurements of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the baseline and intertreatment magnetic resonance imaging studies, the researchers noted.

The results showed that the 3D VFA SOS sequence was effective in reducing motion artifacts compared with the conventional VFA sequence methods. With respect to repeatability, no significant correlation was observed between the variability in ΔT1 measurements of CSF obtained from SOS T1 maps.

“The 3D VFA SOS sequence is a feasible and reliable method for T1 mapping in HNC patients undergoing CRT. The use of this technique could potentially aid in the assessment of treatment response and contribute to improving patient outcomes,” the investigators concluded.