Radiology and Oncology 2022

Radiology , the use of imaging modalities and processes to image the human body for diagnostic and treatment purposes, has traditionally been at the forefront of implementing the most recent technological advances. We have witnessed an incredible evolution in CT and MR imaging technology over the last decade, which has been complemented by a recent transformation through artificial intelligence (AI)-based software, which has expanded the horizon of image quality and diagnostic efficiency. Several limitations constrain current CT technology, including a trade-off between ionising radiation dose and image quality. Artefacts such as image noise and distortions increase as dose is reduced, worsening CT's already poor ability to distinguish between healthy and pathologic tissues .

While many cancers are diagnosed when they are curable, a few patients will experience recurrence at a distant site during their lifetime. This is due to the fact that after cancer treatment, any remaining cancer cells in the body can become active and begin to multiply, resulting in a relapse of the disease. It is commonly known as the minimal or measurable residual disease (MRD), and it is detectable but potentially incurable. The use of prognostic molecular tools may be able to directly screen patients who are most likely to have MRD, but the relationship between these predictors and MRD detection remains unknown. Another challenge is the lack of a definitive MRD assay with established clinical utility, as well as the difficulty in selecting potential interventions due to limitations in understanding MRD biology .