Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Development Of Artificial Intelligence-Based Tools For Expert Peer Review Of Radiotherapy Treatment Plans, Mary Gronberg

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Creating a patient-specific radiation treatment plan is a time-consuming and operator-dependent manual process. The treatment planner adjusts the planning parameters in a trial-and-error fashion in an effort to balance the competing clinical objectives of tumor coverage and normal tissue sparing. Often, a plan is selected because it meets basic organ at risk dose thresholds for severe toxicity; however, it is evident that a plan with a decreased risk of normal tissue complication probability could be achieved. This discrepancy between “acceptable” and “best possible” plan is magnified if either the physician or treatment planner lacks focal expertise in the disease site. …

Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging Artificial Intelligence Pipeline For Oropharyngeal Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment Guidance, Kareem Wahid

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is a widespread disease and one of the few domestic cancers that is rising in incidence. Radiographic images are crucial for assessment of OPC and aid in radiotherapy (RT) treatment. However, RT planning with conventional imaging approaches requires operator-dependent tumor segmentation, which is the primary source of treatment error. Further, OPC expresses differential tumor/node mid-RT response (rapid response) rates, resulting in significant differences between planned and delivered RT dose. Finally, clinical outcomes for OPC patients can also be variable, which warrants the investigation of prognostic models. Multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) techniques that incorporate simultaneous anatomical and functional information …

The Safe And Effective Clinical Deployment Of Artificial Intelligence Tools, Kelly Nealon

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

18 million new cancer cases are diagnosed each year. Roughly half of these patients will be treated with radiation therapy, a complex technique that requires an interdisciplinary team of clinical staff and expensive equipment to be delivered safely. Cancer centers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) have an especially difficult time meeting the demands of radiation therapy as the complexity of treatment techniques increase, with only 37% of patients in these regions having access to the care they need. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools are being developed to simplify the treatment planning and quality assurance processes to increase the number …

Automating The Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning Process For Pediatric Patients With Medulloblastoma, Soleil Hernandez

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Over the past 50 years, pediatric cancer 5-year survival rates increased from 20% to 80% in high-income countries, however, these trends have not been mirrored in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). This is due in part to delayed diagnosis, higher rates of advanced disease at presentation and a growing lack of access to high quality medical personnel and technology necessary to deliver complex treatments.

The long-term goal of this study was to alleviate demanding workflows and increase global access to high-quality pediatric radiation therapy by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to automate the radiation therapy treatment planning process for pediatric patients …