Belgian researchers have developed a new kind of scan called the diffusion-weighted MRI scan, which will help in detecting the accurate stages of lung cancer. The scan can differentiate between cancerous and non-cancerous legions in the lungs. This ability can help doctors to avoid surgeries, which are done based on wrong diagnosis.
Doctors at present use the standard CT scan where pictures are taken around the body, and the PET scan where a radioactive drug is injected and its reaction with body structures is studied, to diagnose if the legions present in the lungs are cancerous or benign. The main disadvantage of these methods is that they have the tendency to misinterpret lung inflammations as cancerous tumours. The diffusion-weighted MRI however, analyses the movement of water in the lung tissue and detects changes in the structure of the lungs during the initial stages of lung cancer. The scan does not expose the patient to radioactivity and is also non-invasive.
For the purpose of the study, researchers studied 50 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer or probable lung cancer by the CT/PET scan and were scheduled for surgery. The researchers performed the diffusion-weighted MRI scan on the subjects a day before the surgery. The results indicated that while CT/ PET scans were able to diagnose 33 patients accurately, 7 inaccurately and were not able to determine the disease for 10 patients, the diffused-weighted MRI scan was able to diagnose 45 patients accurately and 5 inaccurately. According to Dr Johan Coolen, who is from the University Hospitals Leuven located in Belgium, the new MRI scan can also help in categorising the patients according to the stages of the disease so that the doctors can provide effective treatment for the same.