Optimising Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy For Cancer Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$682,000.00
Summary
Over 50% of cancer patients receive radiotherapy (RT). Tumour control using RT is limited by adverse normal tissue reactions. Unlike conventional RT machines, the Australian synchrotron has the capability to deliver strong radiation in very thin slices, termed microbeam RT (MRT). Tumour control has been obtained in animal models with a remarkable sparing of normal tissue using MRT. We will optimize MRT as a crucial step towards a potentially revolutionary cancer treatment.
Validating And Optimising The Analysis Of Magnetic Resonance Physiology Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$91,725.00
Summary
Combined electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to detect the anatomical areas in the brain that show electrical activity. Several centres worldwide use this technique to localise the seizure focus in patients with epilepsy. However, there is a lack of validation of the currently applied techniques. Current analysis methods have been developed and validated for other fMRI paradigms, such as motor tasks. It is not known whether the same principles ar ....Combined electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to detect the anatomical areas in the brain that show electrical activity. Several centres worldwide use this technique to localise the seizure focus in patients with epilepsy. However, there is a lack of validation of the currently applied techniques. Current analysis methods have been developed and validated for other fMRI paradigms, such as motor tasks. It is not known whether the same principles are applicable and optimal for fMRI-EEG data. The proposed project aims at validating and optimising the analysis strategies for fMRI-EEG data.Read moreRead less
Rectal Invivo Radiotherapy Dosimetry Using A Fibre Optic Array
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$438,963.00
Summary
For pelvic cancer patients too much radiation causes rectal problems which are hard to avoid. To reduce the problem we have developed a tiny dosimeter, which we will network to measure the radiation in the rectum as it is being received. This will tell us the maximum safe dose of radiation we can give before causing rectal complications. This will be an effective quality assurance and radiation safety tool.
Investigation Of A New Electronic Portal Imaging Device For Radiation Therapy Dose Delivery Verification
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,101.00
Summary
In external beam radiotherapy highly complex radiation fields are used to deliver high doses of radiation to the tumour while sparing normal tissues. Inaccurate treatment could result in poor patient outcome or damage to normal tissues. We aim to investigate a novel imaging device to measure the dose accuracy of these fields. This work has the potential to make a significant and fundamental difference to existing verification techniques for radiotherapy treatments to ensure patient outcomes.
Improving Outcomes Of Radiotherapy Treatments Through In-vivo Dosimetric Verification
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,855.00
Summary
Radiotherapy remains an important non-surgical treatment for over 50 % of cancer patients. This project aims to develop methods that will enable the optimisation of the patients' treatment as it progresses by non-invasively measuring the radiation dose delivered each day. This will increase the likelihood of curing the patient as well as reducing the side effects experienced due to the treatment. This will improve the patients' quality of life post-treatment.
Improved Identification Of At-risk Brain Tissue In Patients With Stroke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$279,044.00
Summary
Stroke is one of the most frequent causes of death and the major cause of adult neurological disability. Diagnostic tools to improve its management are therefore crucial. This project is dedicated to improving the magnetic resonance imaging techniques for measuring blood flow to the brain, and to applying these to patients who have had a stroke. Improved methods will enable better prediction of tissue outcome following stroke, thus enabling optimal early management decisions to be taken.
The Use Of Electronic Portal Imaging Devices For The Dosimetric Verification Of Complex Radiotherapy Treatments
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$260,949.00
Summary
The prognosis for someone diagnosed with cancer is much better than commonly believed. If detected early, malignant tumours are generally well localised. During these early stages of tumour growth high doses of radiation therapy can with a high probability, eradicate a cancer but come with the cost of causing unacceptable damage to normal tissue. A specific goal of improving the technology of radiation therapy is to reduce the probability of damage to normal tissue. Achieving this goal may allow ....The prognosis for someone diagnosed with cancer is much better than commonly believed. If detected early, malignant tumours are generally well localised. During these early stages of tumour growth high doses of radiation therapy can with a high probability, eradicate a cancer but come with the cost of causing unacceptable damage to normal tissue. A specific goal of improving the technology of radiation therapy is to reduce the probability of damage to normal tissue. Achieving this goal may allow delivery of higher doses with an associated increase in the chance of controlling the tumour. One of the challenges in radiation therapy is that tumours do not come in shapes that are easy to treat. Tumours extend into cavities and push aside healthy organs growing into complex 3D shapes. The careful shaping of the radiation beams to deliver dose distributions that match the 3D shape of the target is known as 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) is an advanced form of 3DCRT that allows the delivered dose to be closely tailored to the shape of complex tumour volumes while sparing neighbouring healthy tissues. One of the consequences of increasing the conformality of radiation therapy is an increased sensitivity to errors in the preparation and execution of the treatment. If the maximum gain in the treatment outcome using 3DCRT and IMRT techniques is to be achieved then it is crucial that the correct volume is treated to the correct dose on each day of the treatment. This requires new improved methods and techniques for verifying the daily delivery of the treatment. In this project we aim to develop the use of online digital imaging devices for measuring the delivered dose during treatment. This will increase the confidence with which these new conformal radiotherapy techniques can be delivered allowing their true potential for improving patient treatment outcomes to be realised.Read moreRead less
The Effects Of Inherent Inaccuracies In DXA In Vivo BMD Measurements On Osteopenic/Osteoporotic Diagnostics/Prognositics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,980.00
Summary
Osteoporosis (porous bone) and consequent associated bone fractures of mainly post-menopausal women and the elderly of both genders constitutes a significant, widespread and rapidly growing public health problem. It is already a major health-cost burden in Australia and worldwide and is set to increase dramatically over the next few decades as the proportion of the population at or above the osteoporosis-prone age increases sharply. Current diagnostic evaluations of osteoporosis, bone mineral st ....Osteoporosis (porous bone) and consequent associated bone fractures of mainly post-menopausal women and the elderly of both genders constitutes a significant, widespread and rapidly growing public health problem. It is already a major health-cost burden in Australia and worldwide and is set to increase dramatically over the next few decades as the proportion of the population at or above the osteoporosis-prone age increases sharply. Current diagnostic evaluations of osteoporosis, bone mineral status of the skeleton, mechanical integrity of bone, and bone fracture risk are mainly based on X-ray absorption measurements of a given individual's bone mineral density (BMD) using Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometric (DXA) bone densitometer instrumentation. New drugs to retard, ameliorate, or reverse the low bone mineral density condition of osteoporosis are now becoming available, but cannot be prescribed unless sufficiently low BMD is demonstrated for a given patient. The efficacy of these drugs is usually held to be greatest at the earliest stage of osteoporosis (osteopenia) and their effectiveness evaluated on the basis of DXA-measured bone mineral density. The Chief Investigator of this project has already shown by published quantitative analysis and simulation studies that such BMD measurements are inherently inaccurate; that errors of 20% and greater can readily pertain, particularly for those patients at the early stages of osteoporosis and those at or above the osteoporosis-prone age -- the very individuals for whom bone mineral density values are often of paramount interest and concern. These systematic DXA inaccuracies can be large enough to either mask the presence of osteoporosis or lead to false diagnoses and patient monitoring results. The present project, for the first time anywhere, is desiged to quantitatively establish the extent of these inaccuracies using actual DXA densitometers utilizing sophisitcated and precise methods.Read moreRead less