Photoacoustic imaging for monitoring radiotherapy treatment response in head and neck tumors.

ABSTRACT: Head and neck (HN) tumors are responsible for approximately 4% of annual new cancer cases worldwide. Besides surgery, radiochemotherapy, particularly fractionated radiotherapy (RT), is the gold-standard treatment modality for these cancers. However, there is currently no reliable early measure of success available to further personalize treatment plans. This work aims to address this critical bottleneck by pioneering the use of photoacoustic imaging (PAI) to measure treatment response in HN cancer patients undergoing RT. PAI leverages the photoacoustic effect in order to non-invasively recover functional tissue properties in depths of up to several centimeters. We hypothesized that oxygen saturation ([Formula: see text]), hemoglobin concentration, and water content, as measured by PAI, wou

SUBMITTER: Holzwarth N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12065922 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature