Tumor Imaging Metrics Core

Overview

The Tumor Imaging Metrics Core (TIMC):

• Makes reliable, quantitative, longitudinal measurements (such as RECIST, Lugano, RANO, standardized uptake value [SUV] etc.) of lesions from serial MRI, CT, PET, and PET/CT scan images
• Presents results of analyses on a password protected secure web-based report
• Provides an independent service, with verifiable measurement of treatment response for patients enrolled in cancer center trials
• Serves as a centralized, computerized resource to facilitate efficient internal or external auditing

Reliable tracking of changes in lesion size or metabolism is essential for clinical trials that use radiological measurements as surrogate endpoints. The Tumor Metrics Core provides a service for managing these images, making measurements in a routine, reliable, and centralized way, and making results available to investigators efficiently.

Facilities & Equipment

Major Equipment:

• HERMES workstation
• Merge Healthcare eFilm workstation
• Vitrea workstation

Services

• Consultation services for image-based protocol and image analysis design
• Image capture and management of multimodality scans from all DF/HCC institutions
• Tumor measurements from scans of patients on clinical trials according to trial protocol
• Web-based reporting of results with annotated images and results summary
• Database management of radiological data for clinical trials
• Quality Control:
  • For site review, the TIMC paradigm utilizes one central reader per radiologic exam (single read). The central reader will be randomly assigned and cannot be selected by trial staff based on site location.
  • A mediation process has been established in the instance that the central review is felt to be discordant with clinical assessment. Trial staff should file a request for mediation with the TIMC Help Desk (tumormetrics@partners.org) which will trigger a review by a blinded, independent reviewer at a site where the patient is not enrolled.
  • A randomly selected subset of imaging studies are reviewed by dedicated TIMC staff to ensure that documentation was made to justify discordance between central radiology and clinical reviews. Additionally, data are reviewed to ensure appropriate disease was selected at baseline and that follow-up assessments were rendered according to established criteria.
• Radiology reviewer training:
  • Radiologists and Image Analysts are trained and certified as proficient in established response assessment criteria and clinical research principles.
• Standardized lesion measurement:
  • Standardized, longitudinal image measurement of radiological scans for oncology clinical trials.

Fee Schedule

Included in the TIMC user fees are the following services; consultation with Trial PIs prior to trial initiation, image study capture from DF/HCC centers, image study archival for the length of the trial, tumor measurements as specified in the protocol, database management of measurement results and image snapshots, web-based results reporting and assistance with trial audits with respect to the image analysis components of the trial.

The TIMC offers consultative services to clinical trials investigators at no additional cost to DF/HCC investigators. The goal of the consultative service is to optimize clinical trials’ protocol design for imaging acquisition and analysis methods so that trials are established with appropriate and optimal imaging methods.

TIMC service fees (per scan). Updated October 2024
For sites outside of DF/HCC, other fees may apply.

*TIMC will provide radiographic assessment only.

Meet the Team

Core Co-Director: Gordon Harris, PhD (MGH)
Core Co-Director: Annick Van den Abbeele, MD (DFCI)

Core Manager:
Deanne Hobba
dhobba@mgb.org

Research Fellows:

Carolina Jorge, MD
pjorge@mgh.harvard.edu

Niranjan Rachamreddy, MD
nrachamreddy@mgh.harvard.edu

Pallavi Pandey, MD
ppandey5@mgh.harvard.edu

Tagwa Idris, MD
tidris@mgh.harvard.edu

Image Analyst Specialists:

Douglas Brown
douglas_brown@dfci.harvard.edu

Kimberly Ruiz
kmruiz@mgb.org

Maegan Bergeron
mabergeron@mgb.org

Jennifer O'Reilly
joreilly5@mgh.harvard.edu

Marta Adamkiewicz
marta_adamkiewicz@dfci.harvard.edu

Coordinators:

Nicole Pagliarulo
npagliarulo@mgb.org

Alexandra Maltacea
amaltacea@mgb.org

Staff Assistant:

Habi Balde
balde@mgb.org