MRI is a powerful tool for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring, allowing doctors to examine tissues in the body. One advanced MRI technique, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), tracks how a contrast agent (a medical substance) moves through the body, providing insights into tumor blood supply.
However, these scans are often acquired using time-averaging, meaning each measurement blends information over a short period. Standard analysis methods don’t account for this, which can lead to errors in estimating blood flow and tissue properties.
Our latest research introduces a correction to the extended Tofts model, which properly accounts for time-averaging effects. This leads to more accurate and reliable estimates of tumor blood supply, enhancing DCE-MRI’s potential to predict how well a patient’s treatment is working.