Research progress of functional MRI in early brain injury after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中国介入影像与治疗学

ABSTRACT

Radiation brain injury in the temporal lobe is the most common and severe neurological complication after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Early detection and treatment are the key to control the progress of radiation brain injury. However, when abnormal changes were found in conventional MRI, brain injury had developed to irreversible middle and late stage frequently. Functional MRI, including magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging, perfusion-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, diffusion-tensor imaging, and diffusion-kurtosis imaging, can quantitatively reflect the microstructure changes of tissues through many parameters. Some of the parameters could be considered as image markers for diagnosis of radiation brain injury in the early stage. Research advances of functional MRI in early brain injury after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma were reviewed in this article.