Introduction:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in our healthcare delivery system. This versatile technology creates images of soft tissue parts of the body that are sometimes hard to see using other imaging modalities. Since its first introduction in the early 80s, MRI has experienced rapid development in recent years and has found wide applications in the imaging of various diseases including cancers. The Hong Kong Cancer Statistics of 2019 showed that new cancer cases reached a record high of 35,082, up from 25,977 ten years ago (or an increase of 35 % in ten years). With such a rapid rise in the number of patients with cancer, it is expected that MRI technology will continue to play an important role in HA providing timely information on cancer diagnosis, treatment delivery and disease progression monitoring.
Objectives:
The aim of this presentation is to describe some of the recent advances of MRI techniques that are available in HA hospitals and to explain how they could benefit our patients. In the diagnosis space, advanced techniques such as diffusion and perfusion imaging are increasingly being used to identify cancers in the brain, neck, breast, abdomen and prostate. As this technology continues to develop, some future trends will be discussed and to present arguments in favour of their adoption in HA for the benefits of our patients.
Methodology:
A brief overview how these techniques are being used to diagnosis cancer will be presented. As MRI offers very precise anatomical details, several HA hospitals have recently implemented MRI technology to delivery precise radiation therapy treatment. A brief overview how MRI is being employed in radiotherapy will be shown. With better cancer treatments available to patients in recent years, their post-treatment survival has also improved. Follow-up MRI surveillance for cancer survivors is an important aspect of their continuous care. However, disease recurrence may be difficult to identify as treatment induced changes may often confound with real disease. This presentation will also demonstrate how the emergence of new MRI techniques such as CEST-MRI (Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer MRI) could provide cost-effective means to monitor disease recurrence.
Results and Outcome:
Advanced MRI techniques are being used in HA hospitals to provide timely care to our patients with cancer requiring accurate diagnosis and disease monitoring. In the near future, more advanced MRI techniques will be adopted in HA hospitals to improve patient care and management.
