The objective of the research described in this proposal is to develop an accurate, reproducible and clinically useful method for precise measurement of tumor volumes in order to effectively characterize their change in response to anti-neoplastic treatment regimens. The method will include registration of multi-modality and/or serially-acquired 3-D volume images based on a new surface matching algorithm which is accurate, robust, and fast. The method also features a new approach to 3-D volume segmentation based on multispectral and morphological analysis, rather than traditional edge-strength methods. This feature-space analysis has the advantages of relative immunity to """"""""voxel noise"""""""" and inherent incorporation of multi-modality data., The multi-modal registration and feature-space segmentation algorithms will be recursively combined into a single efficient process for reliable tumor volume definition and measurement. The process will be carefully tuned for optimal results with both MR and CT imaging, and will readily facilitate automation. Careful, systematic validation studies will be carried out with realistic simulations and phantoms. Post-mortem specimens containing actual brain tumors will be studied to further validate the methods and to guide determination of optimal 3-D MR and CT image acquisition protocols for brain tumor volume measurement. Using these protocols, patients with two types of CNS neoplasms (primary, non-Hodgkins CNS lymphoma and brain metastasis from small cell carcinoma of the lung) will be enrolled prospectively into a clinical study to evaluate the performance of the method in assessment of tumor volume response to treatment and to consider its implementation for routine clinical use. Combined with the multidisciplinary expertise and commitment to collaboration of the co-investigators and the excellent facilities and environment available to them at Mayo, high confidence is held for development of an accurate and clinically useful method for tumor volume measurement in response to treatment.
