JNCI extract: Radiologists Urge FDA To Accept PET-Based Tumor Response Criteria in Clinical Trials

medical news: Protection Against Cell Damage From Antioxidant Formula Prior To Radiation Exposure

"A unique formulation of antioxidants taken orally before imaging with ionizing radiation minimizes cell damage, noted researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill. In what the researchers say is the first clinical trial of its kind, as much as a 50 percent reduction in DNA injury was observed after administering the formula prior to CT scans.

"In our initial small study, we found that pre-administering to patients a proprietary antioxidant formulation resulted in a notable dose-dependent reduction in DNA injury," said Kieran J. Murphy, M.D., FSIR, professor and vice chair, director of research and deputy chief of radiology at the University of Toronto and University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. "This could play an important role in protecting adults and children who require imaging or a screening study," he added.

"Pre-administering this formula before a medical imaging exam may be one of the most important tools to provide radioprotection and especially important for patients in the getting CT scans," said Murphy. The study's data support the theory about a protective effect during these kinds of exposure, he explained....."cont'd

link to abstract:

"Purpose:  

We examine use of the free radical scavengers vitamin C (VC), glutathione (GL) and uric acid (UA) as a pre-medication strategy prior to radiation exposures typical of medical imaging studies. Our intent was to develop a simple cocktail of antioxidants to be taken orally prior to X-Ray exposures that can protect a patient’s DNA against free radical mediated radiation injury"

link to meeting:

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Women's Health - Full Text - Imaging in gynecologic surgery (Release date: 16 March 2011; Expiration date: 16 March 2012)

Medical News: Pay-for-Performance Prods Faster Imaging Reports - in Radiology, Diagnostic Radiology from MedPage Today

Note: pay for performance is a widely discussed issue

Is medical imaging easy pickings for reducing cancer costs? - Cancer Network

Manifestations of the Female Reproductive Organs on MR Images: Changes Induced by Various Physiologic States — RadioGraphics

open access - free: Imaging in Radiation Oncology: A Perspective -- The Oncologist

Note: not specific to ovarian cancer; paper addresses the importance of imaging techniques (ie; MRI/PET) while planning radiation therapies.  
some excerpts:
- Shortly after the discovery of the x-ray in 1895, the potential therapeutic benefits of the x-ray and possible toxicities were realized. More than a century later, we continue to struggle with how to balance the intensity of cancer treatment toward increasing the chance of cure with the potential for normal tissue toxicity. Imaging has improved our understanding of the complexities of cancer biology, cancer diagnosis, staging, and prognosis, and it is an essential component of present-day radiation oncology practice. Progress in radiation oncology has occurred in parallel to advances in imaging.
- The primary decisions that radiation oncologists make daily are to decide who to treat, what to treat, what to avoid, and how to deliver the intended doses safely. Imaging is considered in each of these decisions. Although the steps described in sequence below often occur simultaneously, they feed back to each other. Predictions about uncertainties and response in a specific patient can be made from experience in treating a population of similar patients or as more is learned about the patients themselves (e.g., with imaging obtained during therapy).
- How to define the gross tumor volume and volumes at risk for containing microscopic disease (clinical target volumes [CTVs]) is not an easy task. Different imaging tools demonstrate inherently different representations of the tumor

abstract: Imaging ovarian cancer and peritoneal metastases - current and emerging techniques Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

Trial design for evaluation of novel targeted therapies

"Conclusions:Alternatives to traditional phase II trial design including alternative end points, randomized designs, biomarkers, and imaging tools should allow ineffective agents to be discarded and promising agents to undergo further investigation."