Scientists in Scotland who have developed a “pioneering” new scanner say it could significantly improve treatment for patients with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumour.
The Independent reports that scientists at the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian have been awarded £350 000 in funding from the Scottish Government to use field cycling imaging (FCI), a new technology derived from MRI, to track brain cancer spread by generating never-before-seen images.
FCI is a new and specialist type of low-field MRI scan pioneered in Aberdeen and has already been found to be effective in detecting tumours in breast tissue and brain damage in stroke patients.
It is hoped that it can now be used to help brain tumour patients.
MRI scanners were invented at the University of Aberdeen 50 years ago, but the FCI scanner is the only one of its type used on patients anywhere in the world.
It derives from MRI but can work at low and ultra-low magnetic fields, meaning it is capable of seeing how organs are affected by diseases in ways that were previously not possible.
It can also vary the strength of the magnetic field during the patient’s scan – acting like multiple scanners and extracting more information about the tissues.
The technology can detect tumours without having to inject dye into the body, which can be associated with kidney damage and allergic reactions in some patients.
The team of doctors and scientists involved will scan glioblastoma patients undergoing chemotherapy after surgery and chemoradiotherapy.
It is hoped the research will establish that, unlike conventional MRI scans, FCI can tell the difference between tumour growth and progression, and “pseudo-progression”, which looks like tumour but is not cancerous tissue, thus improving care and quality of life.
Study leader Professor Anne Kiltie, Friends of ANCHOR Chair in Clinical Oncology at the University of Aberdeen, said: “We already have evidence that FCI is effective in detecting tumours in breast tissue and brain damage in patients after a stroke.
“Applying this new technology to glioblastoma patients could give us a much more accurate and detailed picture of what is going on in their brain
“If we can detect true tumour progression early, we can swop the patient to a potentially more beneficial type of chemotherapy.
“Also, being able to verify that a patient has pseudo-progression will prevent effective chemotherapy being stopped too early, because it was thought that the tumour has progressed, thus worsening prognosis.
“Importantly, having a reliable method to identify progressive disease will allow development and more precise evaluation of emerging potential treatments. This is particularly important as patients currently have a limited choice of treatments for combating their cancer.”
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