Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Investigation Of Quatitative Image Features From Pretreatment Ct And Fdg-Pet Scans In Stage Iii Nsclc Patients Undergoing Defintive Radiation Therapy, David Fried

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The purpose of this work was to determine if quantitative image features (QIFs) extracted from computed tomography (CT) and flourodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) could provide prognostic information to improve outcome models. Our goal for this work was to determine if it may one day be feasible to incorporate QIFs into personalized cancer care. QIFs were used to quantitatively characterize patient disease as seen on imaging. A leave-one-out cross-validation procedure was used to assess the prognostic ability of QIFs extracted from CT and PET in addition to conventional prognostic factors (CPFs). QIFs were found to improve model fit for …

Improving Attenuation Correction In Hybrid Positron Emission Tomography, Hua Asher Ai

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Hybrid positron emission tomography imaging techniques such as PET/CT and PET/MR have undergone significant developments over the last two decades and have played increasingly more important roles both in research and in the clinic. A unique advantage PET has over other clinical imaging modalities is its capability of accurate quantification. However, as the most critical component of PET quantification, attenuation correction in hybrid PET systems is challenged in several different aspects, including the spatial- temporal mismatch between the PET emission images and the associated attenuation images provided by the complementary modality, and the difficulty in bone identification in the MR-based …

Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation Reduces The Incidence Of Brain Metastasis In A Mouse Model Of Metastatic Breast Cancer, Daniel L. Smith

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) is a preventative whole-brain irradiation technique used to reduce the incidence of brain metastasis and improve overall survival in select patients with small cell lung cancer and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A population of breast cancer patients – stage IV, HER2+ or triple-negative – has emerged as having a high risk of developing brain metastases. Because only 10-20% of breast cancer patients diagnosed with brain metastases survive longer than one year, in this high-risk population the benefit of PCI – potential for reduced incidence of brain metastasis and improved overall survival – may outweigh the risks – …

Characterization Of Low Density Intracranial Lesions Using Dual-Energy Computed Tomography, Jessica L. Nute

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Calcific and hemorrhagic foci of susceptibility are frequently encountered on routine brain MR studies. Both etiologies cause variations in local magnetic field strength, leading to dark regions on the MR images that cannot be classified. Single-energy CT (SECT) can be used to identify lesions with attenuation over 100 HU as calcific, however lesions with lower attenuation cannot be reliably identified. While calcific lesions are unlikely to cause harm, hemorrhagic lesions carry a risk of subsequent intracranial bleeding; as such, identification of hemorrhage is vital in preventing the inappropriate use of anticoagulant medications in patients with hemorrhagic lesions.

Given there currently …