Abstract #2417

Exploration of Multi-Exponential Decomposition of T2 Decay in Gliomas & Its Implications on Targeting for Radiotherapy

Keith Wachowicz^1,2, B. Gino Fallone^2,3

¹Medical Physics, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; ²Medical Physics, Cross Cancer Institute, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; ³Departments of Physics & Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

This work explores the use of multi-exponential decomposition on transverse relaxation decay in patients with gliomas, and its potential for assisting in the contouring process for dose prescription, tracking response to therapy, and possibly differentiating from different heterogeneous tumour regions. 3D multi-echo patient data sets were acquired and analysed with a non-negative least squares algorithm for decomposition. Results suggest that elevation of T2 in some localized tumour regions may be more than just a shift to a longer mono-exponential decay, but possibly a shift to a more complicated distribution.