ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 28 (UPI) -- A special type of MRI scan that measures the flow of water molecules through the brain helps in treating brain tumors, Michigan researchers found.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center used a magnetic resonance imaging scan that tracks the diffusion, or movement, of water through the brain and mapped the changes in diffusion from the start of therapy for brain tumors to three weeks later. The tumor cells block the flow of water, so as those cells die, water diffusion changes.
In the study of 20 people with malignant brain tumors, the researchers found that any change in the functional diffusion map predicted 10 weeks before traditional techniques if the tumor was responding to the chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This has potential to spare patients from weeks of a grueling treatment regimen that's not working and gives doctors the opportunity to switch patients early on to a therapy that may be more effective.
The findings appear in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
