how are these older techniques being incorporated into newer types of radiation therapy?
When planning treatment for prostate cancer, we use both CT (computed tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Combining the two methods provides a good picture of the area that needs to be treated, as MRI offers very superior visualization of the prostate versus CT scan. Endorectal coil MRI scan with contrast is being incorporated more into pretreatment decision making to help determine the best therapies for a prostate cancer patient. [For this test, a tube (the endorectal coil) is placed in the rectum, just behind the prostate, to increase the amount of signal received by the MR unit. During the scan, a contrast agent is injected through an intravenous line to brighten the images.] It’s just one of the pieces of the many pieces of information that we use to determine if a patient is a better surgical candidate or a better radiation treatment candidate. With this technique, we look at various sequences to assess a patient’s extent of disease, meaning the extent of the lesion
