Gerrit H. van de Maat1, Maarten AD Vente2, Johannes FW Nijsen2, Chris JG Bakker2
1Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center , Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands
The influence of holmium-166 loaded microspheres (Ho-PLLA-MS) on diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) was investigated using an ex-vivo pig liver into which a non-radioactive therapeutic amount of Ho-PLLA-MS was administered. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were constructed from DWI data and R2* maps were constructed from multi gradient echo data, prior to and after administration of Ho-PLLA-MS. No significant changes were observed in ADC values at locations where microspheres did lodge in the liver tissue according to the R2* maps. This indicates that treatment response measurements after radioembolization with Ho-PLLA-MS using DWI are not hampered by the presence of the microspheres
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