Oncology Commons^™

Gate Monte Carlo Simulations In A Cloud Computing Environment, Blake Austin Rowedder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The GEANT4-based GATE is a unique and powerful Monte Carlo (MC) platform, which provides a single code library allowing the simulation of specific medical physics applications, e.g. PET, SPECT, CT, radiotherapy, and hadron therapy. However, this rigorous yet flexible platform is used only sparingly in the clinic due to its lengthy calculation time. By accessing the powerful computational resources of a cloud computing environment, GATE's runtime can be significantly reduced to clinically feasible levels without the sizable investment of a local high performance cluster. This study investigated a reliable and efficient execution of GATE MC simulations using a commercial cloud …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Platinum(Ii) And Platinum(Iv) Complexes Containing 4,4′--Disubstituted--2,2′--Bipyridine Ligands For The Treatment Of Cancer, Van Vo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Three series of platinum(II) and platinum(IV) complexes containing 4,4′-disubstituted-2,2′-bipyridine ligands have been synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, mass spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. The MTS cell proliferation assay was used to examine the in vitro anti-proliferative activities of these complexes in various human breast, lung, and prostate cancer cells. The cell's response to the complexes varies between different cell lines; however, the low EC₅₀ values determined from the MTS data indicate that several of the complexes are much more potent than cisplatin.

Flow cytometric analysis of selected compounds revealed induction of apoptosis …

Evaluation Of Ct Images Created Using A New Metal Artifact Reduction Reconstruction Algorithm For Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning, John Niemkiewicz, Andrew G. Palmiotti, Marc S. Miner, Lee E. Stunja, Jenelle Bergene

Department of Radiation Oncology

No abstract provided.

Dose Expansion Cohorts In Phase I Trials, Alexia Iasonos, John O'Quigley

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics Working Paper Series

A rapidly increasing number of Phase I dose-finding studies, and in particular those based on the standard 3+3 design, frequently prolong the study and include dose expansion cohorts (DEC) with the goal to better characterize the toxicity profiles of experimental agents and to study disease specific cohorts. These trials consist of two phases: the usual dose escalation phase that aims to establish the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the dose expansion phase that accrues additional patients, often with different eligibility criteria, and where additional information is being collected. Current protocols typically do not specify whether the MTD will be updated …

Image-Guided Proton Therapy For Online Dose-Evaluation And Adaptive Planning, Joey P. Cheung

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The main advantage for using protons in radiotherapy is their finite range in patients, allowing for potential improved sparing of normal tissues. However, this comes at a cost of increased sensitivity to range uncertainties. Density changes along the beam path will affect the proton range and the resultant dose distribution, making it difficult to estimate the impact of visible anatomic changes to the patient dose distribution. In order to better understand the effect of anatomy change on proton dose, some form of treatment-time verification is required and methods to correct for observed changes would be beneficial. Therefore, this project aims …

Outcomes Of Recurrent Rectal Cancer After Transanal Excision, Sachin Vaid, Christopher Buzas, John S. Park Md, Robert J. Sinnott Md

Department of Surgery

No abstract provided.

Bayesian Joint Selection Of Genes And Pathways: Applications In Multiple Myeloma Genomics, Lin Zhang, Jeffrey S. Morris, Jiexin Zhang, Robert Orlowski, Veerabhadran Baladandayuthapani

Jeffrey S. Morris

It is well-established that the development of a disease, especially cancer, is a complex process that results from the joint effects of multiple genes involved in various molecular signaling pathways. In this article, we propose methods to discover genes and molecular pathways significantly associ- ated with clinical outcomes in cancer samples. We exploit the natural hierarchal structure of genes related to a given pathway as a group of interacting genes to conduct selection of both pathways and genes. We posit the problem in a hierarchical structured variable selection (HSVS) framework to analyze the corresponding gene expression data. HSVS methods conduct …

Dose Expansion Cohorts In Phase I Trials, Alexia Iasonos, John O'Quigley

Alexia Iasonos

A rapidly increasing number of Phase I dose-finding studies, and in particular those based on the standard 3+3 design, frequently prolong the study and include dose expansion cohorts (DEC) with the goal to better characterize the toxicity profiles of experimental agents and to study disease specific cohorts. These trials consist of two phases: the usual dose escalation phase that aims to establish the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the dose expansion phase that accrues additional patients, often with different eligibility criteria, and where additional information is being collected. Current protocols typically do not specify whether the MTD will be updated …

Quantification Of Factors Governing Drug Release Kinetics From Nanoparticles: A Combined Experimental And Mechanistic Modeling Approach, Kyle Daniel Fugit

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Advancements in nanoparticle drug delivery of anticancer agents require mathematical models capable of predicting in vivo formulation performance from in vitro characterization studies. Such models must identify and incorporate the physicochemical properties of the therapeutic agent and nanoparticle driving in vivo drug release. This work identifies these factors for two nanoparticle formulations of anticancer agents using an approach which develops mechanistic mathematical models in conjunction with experimental studies.

A non-sink ultrafiltration method was developed to monitor liposomal release kinetics of the anticancer agent topotecan. Mathematical modeling allowed simultaneous determination of drug permeability and interfacial binding to the bilayer from release …

Reevaluation Of The Aapm Tg-43 Brachytherapy Dosimetry Parameters For An 125I Seed, And The Influence Of Eye Plaque Design On Dose Distributions And Dose-Volume Histograms, Prakash Aryal

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The TG-43 dosimetry parameters of the Advantage^{TM 125}I model IAI-125A brachytherapy seed were studied. An investigation using modern MCNP radiation transport code with updated cross-section libraries was performed. Twelve different simulation conditions were studied for a single seed by varying the coating thickness, mass density, photon energy spectrum and cross-section library. The dose rate was found to be 6.3% lower at 1 cm in comparison to published results. New TG-43 dosimetry parameters are proposed.

The dose distribution for a brachytherapy eye plaque, model EP917, was investigated, including the effects of collimation from high-Z slots. Dose distributions for …

Automated Classification Of Malignant Melanoma Based On Detection Of Atypical Pigment Network In Dermoscopy Images Of Skin Lesions, Nabin K. Mishra

Doctoral Dissertations

“Melanoma causes more deaths than any other form of skin cancer. Early melanoma detection is important to prevent progression to a more deadly stage. Automated computer-based identification of melanoma from dermoscopic images of skin lesions is the most efficient method in early diagnosis. An automated melanoma identification system must include multiple steps, involving lesion segmentation, feature extraction, feature combination and classification. In this research, a classifier-based approach for automatically selecting a lesion border mask for segmentation of dermoscopic skin lesion images is presented. A logistic regression based model selects a single lesion border mask from multiple border masks generated by …