Defining the hypoxic target volume based on positron emission tomography for image guided radiotherapy – the influence of the choice of the reference region and conversion function

Abstract

A non-linear conversion function between uptake and oxygen partial pressure for ¹⁸F-FMISO-PET could be applied to ¹⁸F-HX4 images to delineate hypoxic sub-volumes of similar size, shape, and relative location as based directly on the uptake. In order to apply the model for e.g., dose-painting, new parameters need to be derived for the accurate calculation of dose-modifying factors for this tracer.