The new techniques are partly the result of the doctoral research by radiologist Teresa Gonçalves Ferreira. She focused on eye melanoma and eyelid tumors. Another important part of her research was distinguishing between malignant tumors and inflammatory conditions (inflammation) in the eye socket. The latter two disorders are often confused with each other.
The great thing is that the results offer direct benefits to the patient. For example, the MRI images lead to better diagnoses and treatments. In addition, its application can prevent such procedures as a biopsy or eye removal in some cases.
Learning from practice
Gonçalves Ferreira has been working as a radiologist at the LUMC for seventeen years. In practice, she saw that the standard diagnosis of eye tumors was made using optical techniques and ultrasound. Those methods did not always provide a 100 percent solution. As an alternative to properly visualize eye cancer (ocular melanoma), the radiologist decided on MRI. However, there were no good protocols for that yet. “Until seven years ago, it was not possible to get good MRI images of the eye. This is partly because the eye moves. And because there are many bones around the eye that distort the image,” she says.
Together with a multidisciplinary team, she managed to make beautiful MRI images of the eye. Gonçalves Ferreira: “The images are much more precise. As a result, we can now say with much more confidence whether it is indeed an uveal melanoma or not. We can also measure the tumor more accurately and determine the extent of a tumor. In addition, we can make a better distinction between an inflammatory disease and a malignant tumour: diseases that require completely different treatments.”
In addition to the eye and the eye socket, it was also possible to obtain better MRI images of the eyelid. As a result, the extension of a malignant eyelid tumor can be visualized more accurately. “That’s important because it determines whether only the tumor is removed or whether the eye and eye socket are also removed.”
LUMC sets the standard
Together with physicist Dr. Jan-Willem Beenakker (Ophthalmology and Radiology), Gonçalves Ferreira has drawn up protocols for the use of MRI in the detection of tumors in the eye or eyelid. MRI images of these tumors made at the LUMC have also been included in the latest edition of the ‘WHO Classification of Tumors of the Eye’. This book is regarded by pathologists as the gold standard for diagnosing eye tumors.
There is now also attention from abroad for the use of MRI in the diagnosis of eye diseases. “Centers in several countries are in the process of implementing our protocols,” says the radiologist. “We’ve set a standard.”
2023-08-10 13:40:58
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