The SoR’s MRI for the radiotherapy planning group is an important, newly-established Special Interest Group that aims to bridge the gap between magnetic resonance imaging and cancer care.
Co-chaired by Serena West, pre-treatment clinical specialist radiographer for MRI at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in Newcastle, the MRI Radiotherapy Planning Special Interest Group (SIG) hopes to promote best practice and drive collaboration between its members.
As part of MRI Safety Week 2025, which takes place on 21-25 July, the SoR spoke with Serena, to find out more.
MRI is increasingly used in radiotherapy planning, as the high-resolution images offer clearer outlines of tumours and surrounding areas, which then helps to improve accuracy and personalisation of a patient’s treatment.
The SIG is still in its early days, having been set up in September 2023 by Sharon Cave, a Diagnostic Radiographer at Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Though Sharon has mainly chaired the group’s meetings so far, Serena is set to take the reins at the next meeting.
“We're still establishing ourselves,” Serena says. “I love being the co-chair of it because it means that I can talk about my bread and butter amongst radiographers in the same boat, and we can learn from each other.”
What are the aims of the MRI for Radiotherapy Planning SIG?
The group has several key aims, which include:
- Promoting best practice
- Developing a collaborative approach
- Sharing research and expertise
- Taking advantage of CPD opportunities
These are achieved through regular meetings and communication between members so they can learn from each other. For Serena, what brought about this idea for more collaboration was the introduction of an MRI scanner at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care.
“So back in 2008, I think we were only one of two centres that had an MRI scanner dedicated in our building,” Serena explained. “We basically had to teach ourselves what to do - how to advance, how to develop, how to take any of it forward.
“We realised we needed to look out for each other, and we needed support from other departments… it made sense to have this group so that we can enable each other.
“I think in radiotherapy, each department's quite isolated. We do our own thing, and we don't often talk to each other. I think there's sometimes quite a lot of competitiveness between radiotherapy departments, whereas with MRI we need to help each other and all the centres need to work together to get our heads around it.”
Why get involved with the group?
Having an MRI machine in a radiotherapy department changes the dynamic of how the machine is usually operated - something that might be difficult for some radiographers, Serena says.
“This is such a different bit of kit within a radiotherapy department,” she explained. “You also have the MDT [multidisciplinary] involvement.
“So you need to get your MR physicists involved, your radiologists, then there's the treatment radiographers, Diagnostic Radiographers, diagnostic and therapeutic working together. It's all very different to what we’re used to. We are used to working in centres where we sort everything out ourselves, and we don't tend to look outwards. It's unnerving for people.”
The SIG aims to be the ideal environment for radiographers to discuss changes like this.
“I installed an MRI scanner back in 2020, and the first time I set foot on an MR scanner was in 2019,” Serena continued. “So it was a steep learning curve.
“It was exhilarating, but I would have loved to have had some sort of mentors or some people to help me through that. And that's the idea of this group.
“If you are installing a new MR sim or even if you've installed one already and you're thinking about developing techniques using functional imaging or something that you want to introduce, come to the group, talk about it, and we can help each other.”
The Society of Radiographers offers a number of resources for those interested in finding out more about MRI. Here, you can access publications on the topic and learn more about MRI Safety Week.
To find out more about the MRI for Radiotherapy Planning SIG, visit the group’s page on the SoR website.