The CCIR works closely with the Siteman Cancer Center (SCC), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, to foster new collaborative clinical and translational research.  The SCC has an active clinical research program conducting Phase I-III studies, with oncologic imaging as one of its major research areas.  Within this area, investigators at the SCC support active trials in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic and advanced breast cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and rectal cancer.  Additional trials are currently being developed for metastatic melanoma, advanced NSCLC, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, esophageal cancer, and metastatic and advanced head and neck cancer. 

In 2005, the National Cancer Institute awarded SCC a grant to establish its own Imaging Response Assessment Team (IRAT) that would focus on the following areas:  (1) Increase the use of imaging for response assessment in clinical trials through education seminars and focus group discussions; (2) Establish a coordinated radiology service for quantifying tumor response from images; and (3) Incorporate new, novel, or innovative types of structural or functional imaging into a clinical trial.

As part of IRAT efforts, the CCIR will support a Tumor Measurement Core that provides oncologists with data collection and tumor measurement assistance for patients enrolled in clinical trials.  IRAT is also working with the CCIR to implement advanced research technologies, such as DCE-MRI protocols and tumor volume tracking methods.  These services will be available within the CCIR.