Tumor treating fields increases blood-brain barrier permeability and relative cerebral blood volume in patients with glioblastoma.

Background And Objective: 200 kHz tumor treating fields (TTFields) is clinically approved for newly-diagnosed glioblastoma (nGBM). Because its effects on conventional surveillance MRI brain scans are equivocal, we investigated its effects on perfusion MRI (pMRI) brain scans.

Methods: Each patient underwent institutional standard pMRI: dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) pMRI at three time points: baseline, 2-, and 6-months on-adjuvant therapy.

Visualizing red blood cell sickling and the effects of inhibition of sphingosine kinase 1 using soft X-ray tomography.

Sickle cell disease is a destructive genetic disorder characterized by the formation of fibrils of deoxygenated hemoglobin, leading to the red blood cell (RBC) morphology changes that underlie the clinical manifestations of this disease. Using cryogenic soft X-ray tomography (SXT), we characterized the morphology of sickled RBCs in terms of volume and the number of protrusions per cell. We were able to identify statistically a relationship between the number of protrusions and the volume of the cell, which is known to correlate to the severity of sickling.

Development of a magnetic resonance imaging protocol to visualize encapsulated contrast agent markers in prostate brachytherapy recipients: initial patient experience.

Purpose: Computed tomography (CT)-based prostate post-implant dosimetry allows for definitive seed localization but is associated with high interobserver variation in prostate contouring. Currently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based post-implant dosimetry allows for accurate anatomical delineation but is limited due to inconsistent seed localization. Encapsulated contrast agent markers were previously proposed to overcome the seed localization limitation on MRI images by placing hyperintense markers adjacent to hypointense seeds.

Effect of pulse sequence parameter selection on signal strength in positive-contrast MRI markers for MRI-based prostate postimplant assessment.

Purpose: For postimplant dosimetric assessment, computed tomography (CT) is commonly used to identify prostate brachytherapy seeds, at the expense of accurate anatomical contouring. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to CT for anatomical delineation, but identification of the negative-contrast seeds is challenging. Positive-contrast MRI markers were proposed to replace spacers to assist seed localization on MRI images.

Nutlin-3a: A Potential Therapeutic Opportunity for TP53 Wild-Type Ovarian Carcinomas.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is a diverse molecular and clinical disease, yet standard treatment is the same for all subtypes. TP53 mutations represent a node of divergence in epithelial ovarian cancer histologic subtypes and may represent a therapeutic opportunity in subtypes expressing wild type, including most low-grade ovarian serous carcinomas, ovarian clear cell carcinomas and ovarian endometrioid carcinomas, which represent approximately 25% of all epithelial ovarian cancer. We therefore sought to investigate Nutlin-3a--a therapeutic which inhibits MDM2, activates wild-type p53, and induces apoptosis--as a therapeutic compound for TP53 wild-type ovarian carcinomas.

MRI characterization of cobalt dichloride-N-acetyl cysteine (C4) contrast agent marker for prostate brachytherapy.

Brachytherapy, a radiotherapy technique for treating prostate cancer, involves the implantation of numerous radioactive seeds into the prostate. While the implanted seeds can be easily identified on a computed tomography image, distinguishing the prostate and surrounding soft tissues is not as straightforward. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers superior anatomical delineation, but the seeds appear as dark voids and are difficult to identify, thus creating a conundrum.

Fast range-corrected proton dose approximation method using prior dose distribution.

For robust plan optimization and evaluation purposes, one needs a computationally efficient way to calculate dose distributions and dose-volume histograms (DVHs) under various changes in the variables associated with beam delivery and images. In this study, we report an approximate method for rapid calculation of dose when setup errors and anatomical changes occur during proton therapy. This fast dose approximation method calculates new dose distributions under various circumstances based on the prior knowledge of dose distribution from a reference setting.

Investigation of dose perturbations and the radiographic visibility of potential fiducials for proton radiation therapy of the prostate.

Image guidance using implanted fiducial markers is commonly used to ensure accurate and reproducible target positioning in radiation therapy for prostate cancer. The ideal fiducial marker is clearly visible in kV imaging, does not perturb the therapeutic dose in the target volume and does not cause any artifacts on the CT images used for treatment planning. As yet, ideal markers that fully meet all three of these criteria have not been reported.

Dose perturbations and image artifacts caused by carbon-coated ceramic and stainless steel fiducials used in proton therapy for prostate cancer.

Image-guided radiation therapy using implanted fiducial markers is a common solution for prostate localization to improve targeting accuracy. However, fiducials that are typically used for conventional photon radiotherapy cause large dose perturbations in patients who receive proton radiotherapy. A proposed solution has been to use fiducials of lower atomic number (Z) materials to minimize this effect in tissue, but the effects of these fiducials on dose distributions have not been quantified.