Oncological Abdominal Imaging Research ("on-AIR")

Prostate cancer imaging

Ivo Schoots

Imaging and image-guided strategies in diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are challenging. However, these strategies may improve diagnostic accuracy, needing less biopsy cores, and may navigate to better therapy choice with subsequent lower morbidity, increased quality of life and at lower costs. Projects on imaging and image-guided strategies of prostate cancer address the need to reduce over-diagnosis, over-biopsy and overtreatment of prostate cancer, due to today’s less than ideal screening tests.

Liver tumour imaging

Maarten Thomeer, Roy Dwarkasing, Francois Willemssen

Our referral center for hepatobiliary diseases is a screening center for hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis and cirrhosis. Our imaging research has introduced short and (costs) efficient screening protocols with MRI. Imaging strategies are to create imaging biomarkers of the liver, which can be used for reference and monitoring of (remaining) liver function (eg. with hepatospecific contrast agents) and risk assessment. New insights in the field of radiomics are applied to reach for these goals.

Together with the department of Medical Informatics, we have constructed an image platform for data transfer. Inside the recently created LAI consortium we aim to provide the  largest  international database of liver MRIs which can be applied  for further machine learning. In this database, both benign as malignant liver entities will be collected.

Cevical cancer imaging

Maarten Thomeer

Cervical cancer is mainly  treated in academic centers in the Netherlands. Our research group focuses on the diagnosis  and response evaluation of invasive cervical cancer.

Societal impact:

Ivo Schoots

• panel member of the Dutch guidelines on prostate cancer
• panel member of the European Association of Urology guidelines on prostate cancer
• panel member of the international PI-RADS Steering committee on prostate MRI, founded by Radiology Society of North-America and European Society of Radiology
• panel member Stuurgroep Kwaliteitsregistratie Prostaatkankerzorg
• imaging wergroep Anser prostaatkankernetwerk

Roy Dwarkasing

• member of LI-RADS International Working Group, focussing on liver imaging and hepatocellular carcinoma

Maarten Thomeer

• panel member of the Dutch guidelines of cervical carcinoma and endometrial carcinoma.
• panel member of the research committee of Dutch Benign Liver Tumor Group (DBLTG).
• founder of the LAI (Liver Artificial Intelligence) - consortium

Francois Willemssen

• member of the research committee of the Dutch Hepatocellular and Cholangiocellular Group (DHCG)
• board member of the abdominal section of the Dutch Radiology Society (NVvR)

• MRI targeted biopsy in prostate cancer
• MRI in risk stratification of men suspected of prostate cancer. Registry MR PROPER: Magnetic Resonance imaging of the PROstate with Prior individual Risk assesment. Diagnostic and cost effective analysis of risk stratification in the diagnostic work-up of prostate cancer, with multi-parametric MRI as a first or second step.
• MRI in men on active surveillance with low-risk prostate cancer (MRI-PRIAS study)
• Imaging of benign liver tumors
• Imaging of malignant liver tumors
• Liver Artificial Intelligence (LAI) - consortium; building an international MRI  database of pathologically proven liver tumors.These data will primary be used for machine learning protocols in classification and prognosis of liver diseases
• MRI in cervical cancer diagnosis and response evaluation
• Machine and deep learning computer aided models for prostate cancer, liver tumors, renal cysts and pancreatic cysts

• Prostate MRI, with or without MRI-targeted biopsy, and systematic biopsy for detecting prostate cancer. Drost FH, Osses DF, Nieboer D, Steyerberg EW, Bangma CH, Roobol MJ, Schoots IG. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Apr 25;4:CD012663
• Prediction of High-grade Prostate Cancer Following Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Improving the Rotterdam European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer Risk Calculators. Alberts AR, Roobol MJ, Verbeek JFM, Schoots IG, Chiu PK, Osses DF, Tijsterman JD, Beerlage HP, Mannaerts CK, Schimmöller L, Albers P, Arsov C. Eur Urol. 2019 Feb;75(2):310-318.
• Reduction of MRI-targeted biopsies in men with low-risk prostate cancer on active surveillance by stratifying to PI-RADS and PSA-density, with different thresholds for significant disease. Schoots IG, Osses DF, Drost FH, Verbeek JFM, Remmers S, van Leenders GJLH, Bangma CH, Roobol MJ. Transl Androl Urol. 2018 Feb;7(1):132-144
• Intrapatient Comparison of the Hepatobiliary Phase of Gd-BOPTA and Gd-EOB-DTPA in the Differentiation of Hepatocellular Adenoma From Focal Nodular Hyperplasia. Vanhooymissen IJSML, Thomeer MG, Braun LMM, Gest B, van Koeverden S, Willemssen FE, Hunink M, De Man RA, Ijzermans JN, Dwarkasing RS. J Magn Reson Imaging 2019; 49 (3):700-710 
• Development and Validation of a Model to Predict Regression of Large Size Hepatocellular Adenoma. Klompenhouwer AJ, Alblas M, Vivica van Rosmalen B, Haring MPD, Venema E, Doukas M, Thomeer MGJ, Takkenberg RB, Verheij J, de Meijer VE, van Gulik TM, Lingsma HF, de Man RA, Ijzermans JNM. Am J Gastroenterol. 2019 Mar 27. 
• Evaluation of T2-W MR imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging for the early post-treatment local response assessment of patients treated conservatively for cervical cancer: a multicentre study. Thomeer MG Vandecaveye V, Braun L, Mayer F, Franckena-Schouten M, de Boer P, Stoker J, Van Limbergen E, Buist M, Vergote I, Hunink M, van Doorn H.

• Erasmus MC-TKI-LSH: “Personalized Prostate Cancer Management using Multi-parametric MRI and Machine Learning (PPCM4)“
• ZonMW Health Care Efficiency Research Grant: “Risk Stratification and MRI in addition to Standard Prostate Cancer Detection: An Impact Analysis”
• KWF - STW ‘Technology for Oncology’ Grant. ProstatVision: Visual technology integrating quantitative patient outcomes to support multidisciplinary clinical decision-making.
• Erasmus MC Health Care Efficiency Research Grant: “Diagnostic and cost effectiveness of the additional use of risk stratification and MRI in standard prostate cancer detection”
• Technology Foundation ‘STW’ – Perspectives for Top Sectors Grant: “Radiomics: Non-invasive stratification of tissue heterogeneity for personalized medicine (Radiomics STRaTegy)”
• NIH grant: new diagnostic tool (Cyst-X) for accurate detection and characterization of pancreatic cysts

• Roy S. Dwarkasing, MD-PhD, radiologist, r.s.dwarkasing@erasmusmc.nl
• Maarten G. Thomeer, MD-PhD, radiologist, m.thomeer@erasmusmc.nl
• Francois E. Willemssen, MD, radiologist, f.willemssen@rasmusmc.nl 
• Daniel Osses, MD, PhD-student, d.osses@erasmusmc.nl 
• Frank-Jan Drost, MD, PhD-student, f.drost@erasmusmc.nl 
• Jose Castillo Tovar, MSc, PhD-student, j.castillotovar@erasmusmc.nl 
• Arif Muhammed, MSc, Post-doc, a.muhammad@erasmusmc.nl