Quantitative MRI for precision radiotherapy target delineation

Quantitative MRI metrics such as apparent diffusion coefficient, relaxation times, and perfusion reflect tumor cellularity and hypoxia, enabling biology-guided radiotherapy target delineation; standardization and multicenter validation remain key challenges.

• Quantitative MRI parameters can help identify tumor infiltration boundaries, delineate internal subtargets, assess hypoxia, and predict early radiotherapy response.
• Reported advantages are notable in brain, head and neck, and prostate tumors, while acquisition standardization, reproducibility, multicenter validation, and treatment planning integration remain key challenges.
• Future directions include multi-parameter validation, prospective trials, and artificial intelligence-based radiomics to build predictive models.

Automated summary

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