Monitoring early response to low-dose Radiation Therapy with UTE Diffuse and Dense fibrosis imaging in swine and cervical cancer patients

Motivation: We demonstrated diffuse-fibrosis and dense-fibrosis imaging during and post-radiation therapy (RT) in cervical-cancer and prostate-cancer patients, using non-contrast and Late-Gadolinium-Enhanced IR-UTE. Goal(s): We now focus on early response to low radiation dose, validating that fibrosis imaging is an early marker allowing for changing dose-distribution during treatment to improve tumor response Approach: We compare hypoxic and normoxic swine fibrosis 1-3 weeks post-10Gy radiation, as hypoxia reduces RT response, and show histology-slides illustrating differences between diffuse- and dense-fibrosis. We also show weekly fibrosis imaging during 0-22Gy radiotherapy, in cervical-cancer patients. Results: Diffuse-fibrosis&Dense-fibrosis increase after 5Gy radiation and track tumor-shrinkage, serving as markers of tumor response. Impact: Tumor response can differ widely between patients, even when receiving the same RT. If the response can be predicted early-on, treatment can be modified to improve outcome. We show that fibrosis imaging serves as a sensitive early marker of radiation-response.