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The objective of this scoping review is to evaluate the potential of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and to determine which of the available MRI techniques reported in the literature are the most promising for assessing treatment response in breast cancer patients following neoadjuvant radiotherapy (NRT). Ovid Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases were searched to identify relevant studies published from inception until March 13, 2023. After primary selection, 2 reviewers evaluated each study using a standardized data extraction template, guided by set inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 5 eligible studies were selected. The positive and negative predictive values for MRI predicting pathological complete response across the studies were 67% to 88% and 76% to 85%, respectively. MRI's potential in assessing postradiotherapy tumor sizes was greater for volume measurements than uni-dimensional longest diameter measurements; however, overestimation in surgical tumor sizes was observed. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and Time to Enhance (TTE) was seen to increase post-NRT, with a notable difference between responders and nonresponders at 6 months, indicating a potential role in assessing treatment response. In conclusion, this review highlights tumor volume measurements, ADC, and TTE as promising MRI metrics for assessing treatment response post-NRT in breast cancer. However, further research with larger cohorts is needed to confirm their utility. If MRI can accurately identify responders from nonresponders to NRT, it could enable a more personalized and tailored treatment approach, potentially minimizing radiation therapy related toxicity and enhancing cosmetic outcomes.
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INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: Effective communication is critical in all healthcare professions, including medical imaging. This is demonstrated across the professional capability requirements outlined by regulatory bodies that represent medical radiation practitioners around the world. Thus, it is imperative that university curricula provide students with opportunities to develop their communication skills to ensure graduates are prepared to deliver high-quality person-centred care (PCC). The aim of this educational perspective paper is to discuss an interprofessional collaboration between academics from medical imaging and a linguist from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences' health communication unit to develop and deliver a pre-clinical communication skills program for undergraduate medical imaging students at Monash University. This innovative program aims to address the unique communication challenges encountered during medical imaging examinations. DISCUSSION: Medical imaging programs tend to use a combination of lectures, role-play and structured workshops to teach communication skills to undergraduate students. These are normally run by medical imaging academics who have significant clinical experience as well as tacit intuitive understanding of communication challenges. This intuitive knowledge can be challenging to articulate to novice learners. In comparison, a linguist is an expert in the use and form of language in context, and can collaborate with medical imaging academics to support students in developing their understanding of communication as a tool for use in caring and compassionate practice as part of a PCC approach. This paper highlights an interprofessional collaboration between medical imaging academics and a linguist to develop and deliver an integrated communication skills program at Monash University, bringing together the expertise of both fields to support medical imaging students in effectively communicating with patients in the clinical context. CONCLUSION: The interprofessional collaboration between medical imaging academics and a linguist at Monash University shows early promise. Our collaborative pre-clinical communication skills curriculum development and delivery pioneers an innovative method within the medical imaging curriculum which integrates best practice from both medical imaging and linguistic fields.
