MRI Analysis Tools Provide Insights into how Tumors Respond to Radiotherapy

New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image analysis tools are being used to glean important information about the way tumors respond to radiation therapy. This may ultimately affect the planning of patient treatment following radiation therapy as this research can now be carried over into human studies.

VirtualScopics, Inc. (Rochester, NY, USA), a developer of advanced medical imaging for clinical trials, announced that its chief scientific officer, Dr. Edward Ashton, Ph.D. had two speaking engagements and co-authored an abstract at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Medicine (ISMRM) conference in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Ashton's presentations on May 7 and 8, 2008, focused on the company's work in dynamic contrast enhanced MRI, a sophisticated medical image analysis technique that measures blood flow and permeability and enables the early detection of a drug's effectiveness in treating cancer and other diseases.

"Our proprietary analysis techniques surrounding the measuring of blood flow within a tumor continue to demonstrate great value to the industry,” stated Dr. Ashton. He further added, "Because of the improved specificity and sensitivity of our tools we were able to determine that our method, compared to three other methods, was the only one that detected the treatment effect of our customer's compound. Our presentations at this year's ISMRM conference [were] made in conjunction with leaders in the pharmaceutical industry to highlight the impacts our analysis tools have made in providing them with quicker and more reliable information to evaluate the efficacy of their drugs.”

Dr. Ashton also presented data related to treating naturally occurring solid tumors in canines. In both human and animal health studies VirtualScopics is able to provide drug makers with more information sooner, enabling them to make earlier decisions on either suspending ineffective drug trials or moving effective drugs forward in the expensive clinical trial process, saving drug makers significant time and money.

VirtualScopics is a leading provider of imaging solutions to accelerate drug and medical device development. VirtualScopics has developed a software platform for analysis and modeling of both structural and functional medical images.


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