Science to practice: can intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted MR imaging be used to assess tumor response to antivascular drugs?

In the study by Joo et al (1), perfusion-sensitive parameters derived from diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging using intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) analysis were significantly decreased 4 hours after administration of a vascular disrupting agent (VDA) (CKD-516), in keeping with drug-induced vascular collapse. A larger decrease in the perfusion-sensitive IVIM parameters was correlated with smaller tumor size increase 7 days after treatment.