A workshop about MR in RT will take place at Washington University in St Louis 22.-23. of May 2014.
The overall program will contain educational sessions, proffered scientific sessions, vendor and attendee interactive times, and debates/panels. Topics are related to integration of MRI in radiotherapy – both as “online” as well as “off-line” image guidance.
The registration fee is 140$ for early bird registration.
MRI has both an established as well as several rapidly evolving roles in the clinical practice of Radiation Therapy. While MRI has been used for nearly 3 decades as an adjunct to precision treatment planning due to superior soft tissue contrast, recent developments including recommendations for Brachytherapy treatment planning, rapid expansion of MRI systems primarily directed to Radiation Therapy utilization, integration of MRI as embedded technology for daily and live treatment guidance, and growing evidence of the potential of more advance MRI-derived quantitative information such as diffusion and perfusion measurements to impact individualized treatment planning, modification and assessment have brought to the forefront several needs for the clinical radiotherapy community. It is important for Radiation Oncology professionals to have a deeper understanding of the fundamentals, benefits, and potential limitations of MRI, and at the current nascent stage of broad adoption, it is critical to provide a dedicated forum where advanced research can be discussed and common solutions debated and discussed. This workshop will address some of these needs. Major foci of the workshop will include:
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- Education of the community on MRI-specific issues (technology, imaging hardware and sequence optimization, quality assurance)
- Helping define the current and evolving roles of MRI utilization in Radiation Oncology, including current evidence of clinical benefit of MRI utilization
- Provide focused discussions on research in critical areas, including:
- MRI as a biomarker for Radiation Therapy
- MRI technology optimization for Radiation Therapy (including MRI imaging systems and related coils as well as ancillary equipment such as immobilization systems, lasers, and quality assurance devices)
- Imaging sequence optimization and tradeoffs for Radiation Therapy
- Clinical solutions for MRI utilization in Radiation Therapy, including:
- MRI-guided Brachytherapy
- MRI-aided treatment planning
- MRI in image guidance of treatment delivery
- Early experience with integrated MRI and treatment systems
- Impact of motion, metal, immobilization, and other factors on MRI for Radiation Therapy
- Novel MRI image processing and analysis methods to support such needs as:
- MRI-only treatment planning (dose calculation, reference image generation)
- Physiological motion assessment
- “Live” image guidance
- Distortion characterization and reduction
- Novel image acquisition, reconstruction, and patient modeling techniques
- Image registration methods for MRI
- Discuss advances in technology and implementation of MRI-guided simulation, planning and treatment systems in clinics
- Evaluate needs for the Radiation Oncology that are currently unmet by both technology and clinical processes
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