Stephen Rose1,2, Stuart Crozier, 2,3,
Pierrick Bourgeat4, Nicholas Dowson4, Olivier Salvado4,
Parnesh Raniga4, Kerstin Pannek5, Alan Coulthard6,
Michael Fay7, Paul Thomas8, David Macfarlane8
1UQ Centre for Clinical Research,
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 2Centre
for Medical Diagnostic Technologies in Queensland, University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 3Biomedical Engineering,
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland; 4The Australian
e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 5Centre
for Magnetic Resonance, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia; 6Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital,
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 7Radiation Oncology, Royal
Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; 8Nuclear
Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia
We
are investigating the use of HARDI, utilising whole-brain track-density maps
to improve definition of brain tumour margins. Our hypothesis is that
infiltrating tumour will reduce WM connectivity enabling improved depiction
of tumour boundaries. To assist in the determination of tumour extent, the 3D
visitation maps are anatomically fused to 18F-FDOPA PET images. We report that
infiltrating tumour delineated on 18F-FDOPA maps that is present outside of
the tumour-enhancement boundary defined on CET1 images results in a reduction
in WM connectivity or streamline density on corresponding whole-brain track
density maps. This has significant implications for surgical and radiation
treatment planning.