Beyond Seeing: Using Images to Shape Therapy

Medical imaging is increasingly moving beyond diagnosis to become an integral component of therapy. Terry Peters illustrates this transition with two very different applications from his group: image-guided mitral valve repair and Intratumoural Modulated electric-field Therapy (IMT) for brain tumours. For mitral valve intervention, multimodal imaging, 3D visualisation and patient-specific dynamic models improve navigation and allow alternative repair strategies to be rehearsed and evaluated before intervention. For glioma, patient imaging is used to plan electrode trajectories and optimise three-dimensional electric-field distributions to maximise tumour coverage while sparing surrounding structures, followed by image-guided implantation and verification; pre-clinical validation of IMT uses bioluminescence imaging and MRI to demonstrate its efficacy. Together the examples show imaging as part of planning, optimising, guiding and evaluating patient-specific therapy.