Apparent diffusion coefficient increases during short course radiotherapy in rectal tumours: Results from a multicentre longitudinal trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has shown promise for predicting response to long course neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer. This study investigated whether ADC changes are detectable during short course radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer.

Materials and methods

Across 3 centres, this study included 138 patients with primary tumours, who received neoadjuvant short course radiotherapy (5 fractions of 5 Gy) on a 1.5 T MRI linear accelerator (MRI-linac), without any prior oncological treatments. DWI was acquired at each fraction prior to beam-on. ADC maps were calculated centrally using a mono-exponential model using b-values between 150

SUBMITTER: Bisgaard ALH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12723380 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature