Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Importance Of Dna Repair Capacity To (And A Model To Predict) Cell Radiosensitivity To Ions, David B. Flint, David B. Flint

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Radiation therapy with ions has a number of advantages over conventional radiation therapy with photons, including favorable depth-dose distributions, greater relative biological effectiveness (RBE) and a lesser dependence on a number of biological factors known to affect radiosensitivity to photons, including DNA repair capacity. Thus, it is expected that an additional benefit of using ions is that they mitigate the great heterogeneities in treatment responses commonly observed in photon therapies.

However, by analyzing the cell survival of human cancer cell lines exposed to clinically relevant photon, proton, and carbon ion beams, we show there is not significantly less relative variability …

Bypassing The Blood-Brain Barrier: A Physical And Pharmacological Approach For The Treatment Of Metastatic Brain Tumors, Samuel A. Sprowls

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation (a) provided an in depth literature review of methods to disrupt the BBB/BTB and improve therapeutic distribution to brain tumors, (b) evaluated the use of azacitidine as a single agent therapy for the treatment of brain metastasis of breast cancer and a potential molecular mechanism by which brain tropic cells are sensitized to hypomethylating agents, (c) determined the impact cannabidiol has on P-glycoprotein mediated efflux at the blood-brain barrier and its potential for use as a single agent treatment for metastatic brain tumors, (d) developed a preclinical radiation therapy protocol for use in small animals and in vitro …

Developing A Presimulation Protocol For Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy, Jennifer Wieworka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Inadequate preparation of prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy (RT) can damage healthy tissue and cause long-term complications. Proper setup can reduce side effects. Currently, there are no standardized guidelines to help prepare patients for prostate radiation. Guidelines will help nurses coordinate care and manage symptoms for these patients. The purpose of this doctoral project was to address the gap in practice of the lack of a standardized process for implementing presimulation interventions for patients with prostate cancer undergoing RT by developing an evidence-based clinical practice guideline (CPG). The practice question for this project focused on the best practices contributing …