Imaging methods are critically important in cancer clinical trials to define disease extent and to assess response of the cancer to treatment. The Imaging and Response Assessment Core (IRAC) is a shared resource that focuses on accurate and reproducible imaging assessment for tumor characterization and for determining response to therapy in clinical cancer research. Great care is taken to ensure the service provides accurate measurements of CT, MRI and PET/CT imaging data and that the services are delivered in a timely fashion. All results are reviewed by a board-certified radiologist.

The IRAC can accommodate a wide variety of study protocols that require tumor imaging and response assessment. The services available for these studies include:

Expert advice on how to integrate imaging into research study designs, and protocol development
Assistance in identifying the image response assessment criteria and personnel needed to support a particular study
Site qualification for imaging for cooperative group and industry-sponsored multicenter clinical trials
Research coordinator services required for execution of specialized imaging examinations
Coordination of the response assessment activities and reporting, including data interception at the time of acquisition and subsequent routing to appropriate workflow lists for processing
Actual measurement of radiologic data used to evaluate tumor response with oversight and signoff by a trained radiologist and/or nuclear medicine physician.