Dheeraj Gandhi
Recent advances in anatomic imaging techniques have significantly improved our ability to assess the locoregional spread of head and neck cancers. While CT and MR imaging remain the gold standard for radiographic evaluation in mapping the extent of primary tumor and regional metastasis, early and accurate detection of tumor recurrence, as well as assessment of response to induction chemotherapy, offer significant challenges. Newer, noninvasive imaging methods are needed to assess tumor biology in vivo during and after therapy.
Our group at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was among the first to use deconvolution-based CTP for assessment of head and neck cancers. During my fellowship in neuroradiology, under the direction of Dr. Suresh Mukherji, I completed a pilot project to define the perfusion characteristics of SCC. We also demonstrated that CTP offers potential for noninvasive monitoring of response to induction chemotherapy in patients with oropharyngeal cancers, and could replace invasive assessment under fluoroscopy. In a follow-up paper we also showed that a positive correlation exists between blood flow and blood volume parameters from CTP and intratumoral microvessel density.
I subsequently went on to pursue an interventional neuroradiology fellowship and now dedicate the majority of my time to endovascular work. However, I feel very fortunate to have been involved with the early