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RSNA convened working groups of the Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA) chaired by Daniel Sullivan, MD (RSNA Science Advisor) to plan the adoption of hardware and software standards to improve accuracy and reproducibility of quantitative results from imaging biomarkers in multi-center clinical trials. FDG PET-CT, DCE-MRI, and Volumetric CT to quantify longitudinally the effects of novel therapeutic candidates for cancer are the imaging biomarkers initially chosen for QIBA to focus on. The mission of QIBA is helping to transform radiology from a qualitative to a more quantitative science, by helping patients benefit from accelerated development and dissemination of new pharmacologic, biologic and interventional diagnosis and treatment approaches.
The FDG PET-CT group (Richard Frank, chair, Ramsey Badawi, Michael Casey, Paul Christian, David Clunie, Patricia Cole, Daniel Gagnon, John Hoffman, Lisa Karam, Paul Kinahan, R Paul Maguire, Eric Perlman, Steve Kohlmyer, Dennis Nelson, and Tim Turkington) developed a list of projects ranging from enablement of software version tracking to implementation of a novel calibration phantom. The group based its deliberations on the current literature regarding variance and changes of clinical significance in SUV (Hoekstra et al, 2000; Minn, et al, 1995; Weber et al, 1999), pivoted off the SNM phantom data (Kinahan et al, 2007; Kinahan et al, 2008), ACRIN protocol design (http://www.acrin.org/PROTOCOLSUMMARYTABLE/tabid/76/default.aspx), and NOPR data (Hillner et al, 2008; http://www.ami-imaging.org/pdf/NOPR.pdf). The projects are in essence a response to the “ask” of pharmaceutical companies in Hallet et al (2007) with co-author Paul Maguire as the discussant in the FDG PET-CT working group.
“Quick Hit” projects will be reported out at a focus session during the 2008 annual meeting of RSNA; the other projects are being initiated for delivery over the next 3 years. RSNA will reach out to other organizations in adjacent niches of the larger biomarkers community to avoid duplication (some of the projects we identified were seen as the rightful province of other organizations) and to ensure communication of contingencies each might have for the other.
RSNA also will reach out to radiologists to ensure alignment on the various projects in this and the DCE-MRI and Volumetric CT workgroups. Self-nominations for project participants may be directed to Dan Sullivan of RSNA (dsullivan@rsna.org) or Richard Eaton of the Medical Imaging Technology Association (ric_eaton@nema.org; [703] 841-3248).
References
Hallett WA, Maguire RP, McCarthy TJ, Schmidt ME, Young H. Considerations for generic oncology FDG-PET/CT protocol preparation in drug development. IDrugs, 2007 Nov; 10(11):791-6.
Hillner BE, Siegel BA, Liu D, Shields AF, Gareen IF, Hanna L, Stine SH, Coleman RE. Impact of positron emission tomography/computed tomography and positron emission tomography (PET) alone on expected management of patients with cancer: initial results from the National Oncologic PET Registry. J Clin Oncol. 2008 May 1;26(13):2155-61. Epub 2008 Mar 24.
Hoekstra CJ, Paglianiti I, Hoekstra OS, Smit EF, Postmus PE, Teule GJJ, Lammertsma AA. Monitoring response to therapy in cancer using [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose and positron emission tomography: an overview of different analytical methods. Eur J Nucl Med 2000; 27:731-743.
Kinahan P, Christian P, Karp J, Chaitanya D, Zubal G, Pappas V, McEwan A. A calibration phantom for multi-center PET/CT studies of assessing response to therapy. J Nucl Med. 2007; 48 (Supplement 2); 194P.
Kinahan P, Doot R, Christian P, Karp J, Scheuermann J, Zimmerman R, Saffer J, McEwan A. Multi-center comparison of a PET/CT calibration phantom for imaging trials. J Nucl Med. 2008; 49 (Supplement 1); 63P.
Minn H, Zasadny KR, Quint LE, Wahl RL. Lung cancer: reproducibility of quantitative measurements for evaluating 2-[F-18]-fluoro-2-D-glucose uptake at PET. Radiology 1995; 196:167-173.
Weber WA, Ziegler SI, Thodtmann R, Hanauske A, Schwaiger M. Reproducibility of metabolic measurements in malignant tumors using FDG PET. J Nucl Med 1999; 40:1771-1777.
