Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Neuroimaging Center Research | Overview
The Neuroimaging Center (NIC) is a major investigational component of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). The PBTC is dedicated to the study of correlative tumor biology and new therapies for primary CNS tumors of childhood. The multicenter consortium conduct clinical trials for anti-cancer drugs.
The mission of the NIC is to provide leadership in diagnostic imaging. Accordingly, the NIC enjoys a central role in the developmental process for PBTC protocols, ensuring consideration of creative imaging objectives and increasing stewardship of Consortium and institutional resources by the implementation and coordination of standardized, appropriate imaging procedures for protocol-specific MRI, MR diffusion, MR perfusion, MR spectroscopy, and PET procedures. NIC research projects include volumetric MR analysis, MR diffusion, MR perfusion, MR spectroscopy and PET.
Our goals are:
- to develop a correlative imaging research plan related to the novel therapeutic interventions of the PBTC;
- to ensure PBTC's ability to incorporate imaging endpoints in its overall research program;
- to ensure PBTC's ability to evaluate correlative imaging research through development of standardized procedural protocols for institutional use;
- to ensure the quality of PBTC imaging research through a systematic program of quality assurance for neuroimaging studies including the oversight of compliance with imaging protocols and assessments of diagnostic image quality and data integrity;
- to oversee crossplatform translations for comparative analyses of MRI, MRS, and PET studies;
- to serve as a core resource for the institutions' PBTC-related neuroimaging efforts.