Quantitative MRI for radiation oncology patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Radiation oncology patients often undergo longitudinal scans to evaluate the effect of treatments on lesions, and to monitor surrounding tissues. We are considering the inclusion of quantitative MRI in current imaging protocols. To this end, we implemented a simple quantitative imaging technique and tested it in a small cohort of five patients. Results captured differences in T1 and T2 between tissues on the treated side vs. the contralateral tissues. Little work has been done so far with MRI relaxometry for monitoring treatment in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and this work represents an early step in this direction.