Search results for: prostate volume
2712 Progress Towards Optimizing and Standardizing Fiducial Placement Geometry in Prostate, Renal, and Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Shiva Naidoo, Kristena Yossef, Grimm Jimm, Mirza Wasique, Eric Kemmerer, Joshua Obuch, Anand Mahadevan
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Background: Fiducial markers effectively enhance tumor target visibility prior to Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or Proton therapy. To streamline clinical practice, fiducial placement guidelines from a robotic radiosurgery vendor were examined with the goals of optimizing and standardizing feasible geometries for each treatment indication. Clinical examples of prostate, renal, and pancreatic cases are presented. Methods: Vendor guidelines (Accuray, Sunnyvale, Ca) suggest implantation of 4–6 fiducials at least 20 mm apart, with at least a 15-degree angular difference between fiducials, within 50 mm or less from the target centroid, to ensure that any potential fiducial motion (e.g., from respiration or abdominal/pelvic pressures) will mimic target motion. Also recommended is that all fiducials can be seen in 45-degree oblique views with no overlap to coincide with the robotic radiosurgery imaging planes. For the prostate, a standardized geometry that meets all these objectives is a 2 cm-by-2 cm square in the coronal plane. The transperineal implant of two pairs of preloaded tandem fiducials makes the 2 cm-by-2 cm square geometry clinically feasible. This technique may be applied for renal cancer, except repositioned in a sagittal plane, with the retroperitoneal placement of the fiducials into the tumor. Pancreatic fiducial placement via endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is technically more challenging, as fiducial placement is operator-dependent, and lesion access may be limited by adjacent vasculature, tumor location, or restricted mobility of the EUS probe in the duodenum. Fluoroscopically assisted fiducial placement during EUS can help ensure fiducial markers are deployed with optimal geometry and visualization. Results: Among the first 22 fiducial cases on a newly installed robotic radiosurgery system, live x-ray images for all nine prostatic cases had excellent fiducial visualization at the treatment console. Renal and pancreatic fiducials were not as clearly visible due to difficult target access and smaller caliber insertion needle/fiducial usage. The geometry of the first prostate case was used to ensure accurate geometric marker placement for the remaining 8 cases. Initially, some of the renal and pancreatic fiducials were closer than the 20 mm recommendation, and interactive feedback with the proceduralists led to subsequent fiducials being too far to the edge of the tumor. Further feedback and discussion of all cases are being used to help guide standardized geometries and achieve ideal fiducial placement. Conclusion: The ideal tradeoffs of fiducial visibility versus the thinnest possible gauge needle to avoid complications needs to be systematically optimized among all patients, particularly in regards to body habitus. Multidisciplinary collaboration among proceduralists and radiation oncologists can lead to improved outcomes.Keywords: fiducial, prostate cancer, renal cancer, pancreatic cancer, radiotherapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 932711 Decisional Regret in Men with Localized Prostate Cancer among Various Treatment Options and the Association with Erectile Functioning and Depressive Symptoms: A Moderation Analysis
Authors: Caren Hilger, Silke Burkert, Friederike Kendel
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Men with localized prostate cancer (PCa) have to choose among different treatment options, such as active surveillance (AS) and radical prostatectomy (RP). All available treatment options may be accompanied by specific psychological or physiological side effects. Depending on the nature and extent of these side effects, patients are more or less likely to be satisfied or to struggle with their treatment decision in the long term. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess and explain decisional regret in men with localized PCa. The role of erectile functioning as one of the main physiological side effects of invasive PCa treatment, depressive symptoms as a common psychological side effect, and the association of erectile functioning and depressive symptoms with decisional regret were investigated. Men with localized PCa initially managed with AS or RP (N=292) were matched according to length of therapy (mean 47.9±15.4 months). Subjects completed mailed questionnaires assessing decisional regret, changes in erectile functioning, depressive symptoms, and sociodemographic variables. Clinical data were obtained from case report forms. Differences among the two treatment groups (AS and RP) were calculated using t-tests and χ²-tests, relationships of decisional regret with erectile functioning and depressive symptoms were computed using multiple regression. Men were on average 70±7.2 years old. The two treatment groups differed markedly regarding decisional regret (p<.001, d=.50), changes in erectile functioning (p<.001, d=1.2), and depressive symptoms (p=.01, d=.30), with men after RP reporting higher values, respectively. Regression analyses showed that after adjustment for age, tumor risk category, and changes in erectile functioning, depressive symptoms were still significantly associated with decisional regret (B=0.52, p<.001). Additionally, when predicting decisional regret, the interaction of changes in erectile functioning and depressive symptoms reached significance for men after RP (B=0.52, p<.001), but not for men under AS (B=-0.16, p=.14). With increased changes in erectile functioning, the association of depressive symptoms with decisional regret became stronger in men after RP. Decisional regret is a phenomenon more prominent in men after RP than in men under AS. Erectile functioning and depressive symptoms interact in their prediction of decisional regret. Screening and treating depressive symptoms might constitute a starting point for interventions aiming to reduce decisional regret in this target group.Keywords: active surveillance, decisional regret, depressive symptoms, erectile functioning, prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy
Procedia PDF Downloads 2182710 Assessment of the Radiation Absorbed Dose Produced by Lu-177, Ra-223, AC-225 for Metastatic Prostate Cancer in a Bone Model
Authors: Maryam Tajadod
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The treatment of cancer is one of the main challenges of nuclear medicine; while cancer begins in an organ, such as the breast or prostate, it spreads to the bone, resulting in metastatic bone. In the treatment of cancer with radiotherapy, the determination of the involved tissues’ dose is one of the important steps in the treatment protocol. Comparing absorbed doses for Lu-177 and Ra-223 and Ac-225 in the bone marrow and soft tissue of bone phantom with evaluating energetic emitted particles of these radionuclides is the important aim of this research. By the use of MCNPX computer code, a model for bone phantom was designed and the values of absorbed dose for Ra-223 and Ac-225, which are Alpha emitters & Lu-177, which is a beta emitter, were calculated. As a result of research, in comparing gamma radiation for three radionuclides, Lu-177 released the highest dose in the bone marrow and Ra-223 achieved the lowest level. On the other hand, the result showed that although the figures of absorbed dose for Ra and Ac in the bone marrow are near to each other, Ra spread more energy in cortical bone. Moreover, The alpha component of the Ra-223 and Ac-225 have very little effect on bone marrow and soft tissue than a beta component of the lu-177 and it leaves the highest absorbed dose in the bone where the source is located.Keywords: bone metastases, lutetium-177, radium-223, actinium-225, absorbed dose
Procedia PDF Downloads 1132709 Identification of Novel Differentially Expressed and Co-Expressed Genes between Tumor and Adjacent Tissue in Prostate Cancer
Authors: Luis Enrique Bautista-Hinojosa, Luis A. Herrera, Cristian Arriaga-Canon
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Text should be written in the third person. Please avoid using "I" “my” or the pronoun "one". It is best to say "It is believed..." rather than "I believe..." or "One believes...".Keywords: transcriptomics, co-expression, cancer, biomarkers
Procedia PDF Downloads 762708 Exploiting the Tumour Microenvironment in Order to Optimise Sonodynamic Therapy for Cancer
Authors: Maryam Mohammad Hadi, Heather Nesbitt, Hamzah Masood, Hashim Ahmed, Mark Emberton, John Callan, Alexander MacRobert, Anthony McHale, Nikolitsa Nomikou
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Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) utilises ultrasound in combination with sensitizers, such as porphyrins, for the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the confined ablation of tumours. Ultrasound can be applied locally, and the acoustic waves, at frequencies between 0.5-2 MHz, are transmitted efficiently through tissue. SDT does not require highly toxic agents, and the cytotoxic effect only occurs upon ultrasound exposure at the site of the lesion. Therefore, this approach is not associated with adverse side effects. Further highlighting the benefits of SDT, no cancer cell population has shown resistance to therapy-triggered ROS production or their cytotoxic effects. This is particularly important, given the as yet unresolved issues of radiation and chemo-resistance, to the authors’ best knowledge. Another potential future benefit of this approach – considering its non-thermal mechanism of action – is its possible role as an adjuvant to immunotherapy. Substantial pre-clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy and targeting capability of this therapeutic approach. However, SDT has yet to be fully characterised and appropriately exploited for the treatment of cancer. In this study, a formulation based on multistimulus-responsive sensitizer-containing nanoparticles that can accumulate in advanced prostate tumours and increase the therapeutic efficacy of SDT has been developed. The formulation is based on a polyglutamate-tyrosine (PGATyr) co-polymer carrying hematoporphyrin. The efficacy of SDT in this study was demonstrated using prostate cancer as the translational exemplar. The formulation was designed to respond to the microenvironment of advanced prostate tumours, such as the overexpression of the proteolytic enzymes, cathepsin-B and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), that can degrade the nanoparticles, reduce their size, improving both diffusions throughout the tumour mass and cellular uptake. The therapeutic modality was initially tested in vitro using LNCaP and PC3 cells as target cell lines. The SDT efficacy was also examined in vivo, using male SCID mice bearing LNCaP subcutaneous tumours. We have demonstrated that the PGATyr co-polymer is digested by cathepsin B and that digestion of the formulation by cathepsin-B, at tumour-mimicking conditions (acidic pH), leads to decreased nanoparticle size and subsequent increased cellular uptake. Sonodynamic treatment, at both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, demonstrated ultrasound-induced cytotoxic effects only for the nanoparticle-treated prostate cancer cells, while the toxicity of the formulation in the absence of ultrasound was minimal. Our in vivo studies in immunodeficient mice, using the hematoporphyrin-containing PGATyr nanoparticles for SDT, showed a 50% decrease in LNCaP tumour volumes within 24h, following IV administration of a single dose. No adverse effects were recorded, and body weight was stable. The results described in this study clearly demonstrate the promise of SDT to revolutionize cancer treatment. It emphasizes the potential of this therapeutic modality as a fist line treatment or in combination treatment for the elimination or downstaging of difficult to treat cancers, such as prostate, pancreatic, and advanced colorectal cancer.Keywords: sonodynamic therapy, nanoparticles, tumour ablation, ultrasound
Procedia PDF Downloads 1392707 Current Status of Ir-192 Brachytherapy in Bangladesh
Authors: M. Safiqul Islam, Md Arafat Hossain Sarkar
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Brachytherapy is one of the most important cancer treatment management systems in radiotherapy department. Brachytherapy treatment is moved into High Dose Rate (HDR) after loader from Low Dose Rate (LDR) after loader due to radiation protection advantage. HDR Brachytherapy is a highly multipurpose system for enhancing cure and achieving palliation in many common cancers disease of developing countries. High-dose rate (HDR) Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation therapy that delivers radiation from implants placed close to or inside, the tumor(s) in the body. This procedure is very effective at providing localized radiation to the tumor site while minimizing the patient’s whole body dose. Brachytherapy has proven to be a highly successful treatment for cancers of the prostate, cervix, endometrium, breast, skin, bronchus, esophagus, and head and neck, as well as soft tissue sarcomas and several other types of cancer. For the time being in our country we have 10 new HDR Remote after loading Brachytherapy. Right now 4 HDR Brachytherapy is already installed and running for patient’s treatment out of 10 HDR Brachytherapy. Ir-192 source is more comfortable than Co-60. In that case people or expert personnel prefer Ir-192 source for different kind of cancer patients. Ir-192 are economically, more flexible and familiar in our country.Keywords: Ir-192, brachytherapy, cancer treatment, prostate, cervix, endometrium, breast, skin, bronchus, esophagus, soft tissue sarcomas
Procedia PDF Downloads 4322706 Determination of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer Patients by Electrochemical Biosensor
Authors: Gökçe Erdemir, İlhan Yaylım, Serap Erdem-Kuruca, Musa Mutlu Can
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It has been determined that the main reason for the death of cancer disease is caused by metastases rather than the primary tumor. The cells that leave the primary tumor and enter the circulation and cause metastasis in the secondary organs are called "circulating tumor cells" (CTCs). The presence and number of circulating tumor cells has been associated with poor prognosis in many major types of cancer, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. It is thought that knowledge of circulating tumor cells, which are seen as the main cause of cancer-related deaths due to metastasis, plays a key role in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The fact that tissue biopsies used in cancer diagnosis and follow-up are an invasive method and are insufficient in understanding the risk of metastasis and the progression of the disease have led to new searches. Liquid biopsy tests performed with a small amount of blood sample taken from the patient for the detection of CTCs are easy and reliable, as well as allowing more than one sample to be taken over time to follow the prognosis. However, since these cells are found in very small amounts in the blood, it is very difficult to capture them and specially designed analytical techniques and devices are required. Methods based on the biological and physical properties of the cells are used to capture these cells in the blood. Early diagnosis is very important in following the prognosis of tumors of epithelial origin such as breast, lung, colon and prostate. Molecules such as EpCAM, vimentin, and cytokeratins are expressed on the surface of cells that pass into the circulation from very few primary tumors and reach secondary organs from the circulation, and are used in the diagnosis of cancer in the early stage. For example, increased EpCAM expression in breast and prostate cancer has been associated with prognosis. These molecules can be determined in some blood or body fluids to be taken from patients. However, more sensitive methods are required to be able to determine when they are at a low level according to the course of the disease. The aim is to detect these molecules found in very few cancer cells with the help of sensitive, fast-sensing biosensors, first in breast cancer cells reproduced in vitro and then in blood samples taken from breast cancer patients. In this way, cancer cells can be diagnosed early and easily and effectively treated.Keywords: electrochemical biosensors, breast cancer, circulating tumor cells, EpCAM, Vimentin, Cytokeratins
Procedia PDF Downloads 2612705 Image Segmentation with Deep Learning of Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases on Computed Tomography
Authors: Joseph M. Rich, Vinay A. Duddalwar, Assad A. Oberai
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Prostate adenocarcinoma is the most common cancer in males, with osseous metastases as the commonest site of metastatic prostate carcinoma (mPC). Treatment monitoring is based on the evaluation and characterization of lesions on multiple imaging studies, including Computed Tomography (CT). Monitoring of the osseous disease burden, including follow-up of lesions and identification and characterization of new lesions, is a laborious task for radiologists. Deep learning algorithms are increasingly used to perform tasks such as identification and segmentation for osseous metastatic disease and provide accurate information regarding metastatic burden. Here, nnUNet was used to produce a model which can segment CT scan images of prostate adenocarcinoma vertebral bone metastatic lesions. nnUNet is an open-source Python package that adds optimizations to deep learning-based UNet architecture but has not been extensively combined with transfer learning techniques due to the absence of a readily available functionality of this method. The IRB-approved study data set includes imaging studies from patients with mPC who were enrolled in clinical trials at the University of Southern California (USC) Health Science Campus and Los Angeles County (LAC)/USC medical center. Manual segmentation of metastatic lesions was completed by an expert radiologist Dr. Vinay Duddalwar (20+ years in radiology and oncologic imaging), to serve as ground truths for the automated segmentation. Despite nnUNet’s success on some medical segmentation tasks, it only produced an average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 0.31 on the USC dataset. DSC results fell in a bimodal distribution, with most scores falling either over 0.66 (reasonably accurate) or at 0 (no lesion detected). Applying more aggressive data augmentation techniques dropped the DSC to 0.15, and reducing the number of epochs reduced the DSC to below 0.1. Datasets have been identified for transfer learning, which involve balancing between size and similarity of the dataset. Identified datasets include the Pancreas data from the Medical Segmentation Decathlon, Pelvic Reference Data, and CT volumes with multiple organ segmentations (CT-ORG). Some of the challenges of producing an accurate model from the USC dataset include small dataset size (115 images), 2D data (as nnUNet generally performs better on 3D data), and the limited amount of public data capturing annotated CT images of bone lesions. Optimizations and improvements will be made by applying transfer learning and generative methods, including incorporating generative adversarial networks and diffusion models in order to augment the dataset. Performance with different libraries, including MONAI and custom architectures with Pytorch, will be compared. In the future, molecular correlations will be tracked with radiologic features for the purpose of multimodal composite biomarker identification. Once validated, these models will be incorporated into evaluation workflows to optimize radiologist evaluation. Our work demonstrates the challenges of applying automated image segmentation to small medical datasets and lays a foundation for techniques to improve performance. As machine learning models become increasingly incorporated into the workflow of radiologists, these findings will help improve the speed and accuracy of vertebral metastatic lesions detection.Keywords: deep learning, image segmentation, medicine, nnUNet, prostate carcinoma, radiomics
Procedia PDF Downloads 972704 Verification of Dosimetric Commissioning Accuracy of Flattening Filter Free Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and Volumetric Modulated Therapy Delivery Using Task Group 119 Guidelines
Authors: Arunai Nambi Raj N., Kaviarasu Karunakaran, Krishnamurthy K.
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The purpose of this study was to create American Association of Physicist in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 119 (TG 119) benchmark plans for flattening filter free beam (FFF) deliveries of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) in the Eclipse treatment planning system. The planning data were compared with the flattening filter (FF) IMRT & VMAT plan data to verify the dosimetric commissioning accuracy of FFF deliveries. AAPM TG 119 proposed a set of test cases called multi-target, mock prostate, mock head and neck, and C-shape to ascertain the overall accuracy of IMRT planning, measurement, and analysis. We used these test cases to investigate the performance of the Eclipse Treatment planning system for the flattening filter free beam deliveries. For these test cases, we generated two sets of treatment plans, the first plan using 7–9 IMRT fields and a second plan utilizing two arc VMAT technique for both the beam deliveries (6 MV FF, 6MV FFF, 10 MV FF and 10 MV FFF). The planning objectives and dose were set as described in TG 119. The dose prescriptions for multi-target, mock prostate, mock head and neck, and C-shape were taken as 50, 75.6, 50 and 50 Gy, respectively. The point dose (mean dose to the contoured chamber volume) at the specified positions/locations was measured using compact (CC‑13) ion chamber. The composite planar dose and per-field gamma analysis were measured with IMatriXX Evaluation 2D array with OmniPro IMRT Software (version 1.7b). FFF beam deliveries of IMRT and VMAT plans were comparable to flattening filter beam deliveries. Our planning and quality assurance results matched with TG 119 data. AAPM TG 119 test cases are useful to generate FFF benchmark plans. From the obtained data in this study, we conclude that the commissioning of FFF IMRT and FFF VMAT delivery were found within the limits of TG-119 and the performance of the Eclipse treatment planning system for FFF plans were found satisfactorily.Keywords: flattening filter free beams, intensity modulated radiation therapy, task group 119, volumetric modulated arc therapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1462703 Competing Risks Modeling Using within Node Homogeneity Classification Tree
Authors: Kazeem Adesina Dauda, Waheed Babatunde Yahya
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To design a tree that maximizes within-node homogeneity, there is a need for a homogeneity measure that is appropriate for event history data with multiple risks. We consider the use of Deviance and Modified Cox-Snell residuals as a measure of impurity in Classification Regression Tree (CART) and compare our results with the results of Fiona (2008) in which homogeneity measures were based on Martingale Residual. Data structure approach was used to validate the performance of our proposed techniques via simulation and real life data. The results of univariate competing risk revealed that: using Deviance and Cox-Snell residuals as a response in within node homogeneity classification tree perform better than using other residuals irrespective of performance techniques. Bone marrow transplant data and double-blinded randomized clinical trial, conducted in other to compare two treatments for patients with prostate cancer were used to demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed method vis-à-vis the existing ones. Results from empirical studies of the bone marrow transplant data showed that the proposed model with Cox-Snell residual (Deviance=16.6498) performs better than both the Martingale residual (deviance=160.3592) and Deviance residual (Deviance=556.8822) in both event of interest and competing risks. Additionally, results from prostate cancer also reveal the performance of proposed model over the existing one in both causes, interestingly, Cox-Snell residual (MSE=0.01783563) outfit both the Martingale residual (MSE=0.1853148) and Deviance residual (MSE=0.8043366). Moreover, these results validate those obtained from the Monte-Carlo studies.Keywords: within-node homogeneity, Martingale residual, modified Cox-Snell residual, classification and regression tree
Procedia PDF Downloads 2722702 Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles with Aqueous Extract of Moringa oleifera Lam Leaves and Its Ameliorative Effect on Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Wistar Rat
Authors: Rotimi Larayetana, Yahaya Abdulrazaq, Oladunni O. Falola, Abayomi Ajayi
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The aim of this study was to perform green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera Lam (M oleifera) leaves and determine its effects on benign prostatic hyperplasia in Wistar rats. Silver nitrate (AgNO₃) solution was reduced using the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera Lam leaves, the resultant biogenic AgNPs were characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectrophotometric, SEM, TEM and X-ray diffraction analysis. Animal experiments involved thirty (30) adult male Wistar rats randomly divided into five groups (A to E; n ₌ 5). Group A received only subcutaneous injection of olive oil daily while the other groups got 3 mg/kg/daily of testosterone propionate (TP) subcutaneously plus 50 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs intraperitoneally (B), 3 mg/kg/daily of TP plus 25 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs (C), 3 mg/kg/daily of TP only (D) and 25 mg/kg/daily of AgNPs only (E). The animals were sacrificed after 14 days, and the prostate gland, liver, and kidney were processed for histological analysis. Phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis were performed to determine the composition of the M oleifera extract used. Biogenic AgNPs with an average diameter of 23 nm were synthesized. Biogenic AgNPs ameliorated hormone-induced prostate enlargement, and the inhibition of prostatic hypertrophy could be due to the presence of a significant amount of plant fatty acids and phytosterols in the aqueous extract of M oleifera extract. However, the administration of biogenic AgNPs at higher doses impacted negatively on the cytoarchitecture of the liver. Green synthesis of AgNPs with the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera might be beneficial for the treatment of BPH.Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia, biogenic synthesis, Moringa oleifera, silver nanoparticles, testosterone
Procedia PDF Downloads 962701 The Effect of Nanotechnology Structured Water on Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Double-Blinded Randomized Study
Authors: Ali Kamal M. Sami, Safa Almukhtar, Alaa Al-Krush, Ismael Hama-Amin Akha Weas, Ruqaya Ahmed Alqais
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Introduction and Objectives Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common among men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The combination of 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors and alpha-blockers has been used as a conservative treatment of male LUTS secondary to BPH. Nanotechnology structured water magnalife is a type of water that is produced by modulators and specific frequency and energy fields that transform ordinary water into this Nanowater. In this study, we evaluated the use of Nano-water with the conservative treatment and to see if it improves the outcome and gives better results in those patients with LUTS/BPH. Material and methods For a period of 3 months, 200 men with International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS)≥13, maximum flow rate (Qmax)≤ 15ml/s, and prostate volume > 30 and <80 ccs were randomly divided into two groups. Group A 100 men were given Nano-water with the (tamsulosindutasteride) and group B 100 men were given ordinary bottled water with the (tamsulosindutasteride). The water bottles were unlabeled and were given in a daily dose of 20ml/kg body weight. Dutasteride 0.5mg and tamsulosin 0.4 mg daily doses. Both groups were evaluated for the IPSS, Qmax, Residual Urine (RU), International Index of Erectile Function–Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) domain at the beginning (baseline data), and at the end of the 3 months. Results Of the 200 men with LUTS who were included in this study, 193 men were followed, and 7 men dropped out of the study for different reasons. In group A which included 97 men with LUTS, IPSS decreased by 16.82 (from 20.47 to 6.65) (P<0.00001) and Qmax increased by 5.73 ml/s (from 11.71 to 17.44) (P<0.00001) and RU <50 ml in 88% of patients (P<0.00001) and IIEF-EF increased to 26.65 (from 16.85) (P<0.00001). While in group B, 96 men with LUTS, IPSS decreased by 8.74(from 19.59 to 10.85)(P<0.00001) and Qmax increased by 4.67 ml/s(from 10.74 to 15.41)(P<0.00001), RU<50 ml in 75% of patients (P<0.00001), and IIEF-EF increased to 21(from 15.87)(P<0.00001). Group A had better results than group B. IPSS in group A decreased to 6.65 vs 10.85 in group B(P<0.00001), also Qmax increased to 17.44 in group A vs 15.41 in group B(P<0.00001), group A had RU <50 ml in 88% of patients vs 75% of patients in group B(P<0.00001).Group A had better IIEF-EF which increased to 26.65 vs 21 in group B(P<0.00001). While the differences between the baseline data of both groups were statistically not significant. Conclusion The use of nanotechnology structured water magnalife gives a better result in terms of LUTS and scores in patients with BPH. This combination is showing improvements in IPSS and even in erectile function in those men after 3 months.Keywords: nano water, lower urinary tract symptoms, benign prostatic hypertrophy, erectile dysfunction
Procedia PDF Downloads 732700 Pretherapy Initial Dosimetry Results in Prostat Cancer Radionuclide Therapy with Lu-177-PSMA-DOTA-617
Authors: M. Abuqebitah, H. Tanyildizi, N. Yeyin, I. Cavdar, M. Demir, L. Kabasakal
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Aim: Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) is an increasingly used treatment modality for wide range of cancers. Presently dosimetry is highly required either to plan treatment or to ascertain the absorbed dose delivered to critical organs during treatment. Methods and Materials: The study comprised 7 patients suffered from prostate cancer with progressive disease and candidate to undergo Lu-177-DOTA-617 therapy following to PSMA- PET/CT imaging for all patients. (5.2±0.3 mCi) was intravenously injected. To evaluate bone marrow absorbed dose 2 cc blood samples were withdrawn in short variable times (3, 15, 30, 60, 180 minutes) after injection. Furthermore, whole body scans were performed using scintillation gama camera in 4, 24, 48, and 120 hours after injection and in order to quantify the activity taken up in the body, kidneys , liver, right parotid, and left parotid the geometric mean of anterior and posterior counts were determined through ROI analysis, after that background subtraction and attenuation correction were applied using patients PSMA- PET/CT images taking in a consideration: organ thickness, body thickness, and Hounsfield unites from CT scan. OLINDA/EXM dosimetry program was used for curve fitting, residence time calculation, and absorbed dose calculations. Findings: Absorbed doses of bone marrow, left kidney, right kidney, liver, left parotid, right parotid, total body were 1.28±0.52, 32.36±16.36, 32.7±13.68, 10.35±3.45, 38.67±21.29, 37.55±19.77, 2.25±0.95 (mGy/mCi), respectively. Conclusion: Our first results clarify that Lu-177-DOTA-617 is safe and reliable therapy as there were no complications seen. In the other hand, the observable variation in the absorbed dose of the critical organs among the patients necessitate patient-specific dosimetry approach to save body organs and particularly highly exposed kidneys and parotid gland.Keywords: Lu-177-PSMA, prostate cancer, radionuclide therapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 4802699 Microfluidic Device for Real-Time Electrical Impedance Measurements of Biological Cells
Authors: Anil Koklu, Amin Mansoorifar, Ali Beskok
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Dielectric spectroscopy (DS) is a noninvasive, label free technique for a long term real-time measurements of the impedance spectra of biological cells. DS enables characterization of cellular dielectric properties such as membrane capacitance and cytoplasmic conductivity. We have developed a lab-on-a-chip device that uses an electro-activated microwells array for loading, DS measurements, and unloading of biological cells. We utilized from dielectrophoresis (DEP) to capture target cells inside the wells and release them after DS measurement. DEP is a label-free technique that exploits differences among dielectric properties of the particles. In detail, DEP is the motion of polarizable particles suspended in an ionic solution and subjected to a spatially non-uniform external electric field. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first microfluidic chip that combines DEP and DS to analyze biological cells using electro-activated wells. Device performance is tested using two different cell lines of prostate cancer cells (RV122, PC-3). Impedance measurements were conducted at 0.2 V in the 10 kHz to 40 MHz range with 6 s time resolution. An equivalent circuit model was developed to extract the cell membrane capacitance and cell cytoplasmic conductivity from the impedance spectra. We report the time course of the variations in dielectric properties of PC-3 and RV122 cells suspended in low conductivity medium (LCB), which enhances dielectrophoretic and impedance responses, and their response to sudden pH change from a pH of 7.3 to a pH of 5.8. It is shown that microfluidic chip allowed online measurements of dielectric properties of prostate cancer cells and the assessment of the cellular level variations under external stimuli such as different buffer conductivity and pH. Based on these data, we intend to deploy the current device for single cell measurements by fabricating separately addressable N × N electrode platforms. Such a device will allow time-dependent dielectric response measurements for individual cells with the ability of selectively releasing them using negative-DEP and pressure driven flow.Keywords: microfluidic, microfabrication, lab on a chip, AC electrokinetics, dielectric spectroscopy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1512698 Contribution of Hydrogen Peroxide in the Selective Aspect of Prostate Cancer Treatment by Cold Atmospheric Plasma
Authors: Maxime Moreau, Silvère Baron, Jean-Marc Lobaccaro, Karine Charlet, Sébastien Menecier, Frédéric Perisse
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Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) is an ionized gas generated at atmospheric pressure with the temperature of heavy particles (molecules, ions, atoms) close to the room temperature. Recent studies have shown that both in-vitro and in-vivo plasma exposition to many cancer cell lines are efficient to induce the apoptotic way of cell death. In some other works, normal cell lines seem to be less impacted by plasma than cancer cell lines. This is called selectivity of plasma. It is highly likely that the generated RNOS (Reactive Nitrogen Oxygen Species) in the plasma jet, but also in the medium, play a key-role in this selectivity. In this study, two CAP devices will be compared to electrical power, chemical species composition and their efficiency to kill cancer cells. A particular focus on the action of hydrogen peroxide will be made. The experiments will take place as described next for both devices: electrical and spectroscopic characterization for different voltages, plasma treatment of normal and cancer cells to compare the CAP efficiency between cell lines and to show that death is induced by an oxidative stress. To enlighten the importance of hydrogen peroxide, an inhibitor of H2O2 will be added in cell culture medium before treatment and a comparison will be made between the results of cell viability in this case and those from a simple plasma exposition. Besides, H2O2 production will be measured by only treating medium with plasma. Cell lines will also be exposed to different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in order to characterize the cytotoxic threshold for cells and to make a comparison with the quantity of H2O2 produced by CAP devices. Finally, the activity of catalase for different cell lines will be quantified. This enzyme is an important antioxidant agent against hydrogen peroxide. A correlation between cells response to plasma exposition and this activity could be a strong argument in favor of the predominant role of H2O2 to explain the selectivity of plasma cancer treatment by cold atmospheric plasma.Keywords: cold atmospheric plasma, hydrogen peroxide, prostate cancer, selectivity
Procedia PDF Downloads 1492697 Psycho-Social Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life among Persons Living with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Ibadan, Nigeria
Authors: A. C. Obosi, H. O. Osinowo, L. I. Okeke
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Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one among other prostate diseases with an increasing public health concern. The prevalence and increased psychological distress of BPH among men negatively impact on their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Although several biomedical factors have been implicated in poor HRQoL among people with BPH, there is a dearth of research on the psychosocial factors predicting HRQoL among them especially in developing climes. This study, therefore, examined the psychosocial (knowledge, perceived stigma, depression, anxiety, perceived social support and illness acceptance) predictors of health-related quality of life among persons living with BPH in Ibadan, Nigeria. Biopsychosocial model and Health-related Quality of life guided this study which utilized ex-post facto design. Eighty-seven males living with BPH were purposively selected and actively participated in the study. Participants’ mean age was 61.77 ± 15.80 years. A standardized questionnaire comprising Socio-demographics and measures of health-related quality of life (α = 0.47); knowledge (α = 0.72); psychological distress (α = 0.95); perceived social support (α = 0.96) and Illness acceptance (α = 0.89) scales was utilized in the study. Data were content analysed, while bivariate correlation, hierarchical multiple regression and t-test for independent samples were computed at p < 0.05. Results revealed that 42.5% of the respondents reported poor HRQoL. Furthermore, age, length of illness, perceived stigma, depression, anxiety, knowledge, perceived social support and illness acceptance jointly predicted HRQoL significantly (R2=0.33, F(9,75)=4.05) and accounted for 33% variance in the total observed variance on HRQoL, while Illness acceptance (β=0.43), anxiety (β=-0.54), and perceived social support (β=0.16) had significant independent contributions to the observed variance on HRQoL. Illness acceptance, knowledge, perceived social support and psychological distress such as anxiety, depression and perceived stigma are important predictors of HRQoL. Therefore, it was recommended that urgent psychological intervention targeted at improving the quality of life of these persons be undertaken.Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia, Health-related quality of life, prostate disorders, psychosocial factors
Procedia PDF Downloads 2202696 Business Intelligence Dashboard Solutions for Improving Decision Making Process: A Focus on Prostate Cancer
Authors: Mona Isazad Mashinchi, Davood Roshan Sangachin, Francis J. Sullivan, Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
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Background: Decision-making processes are nowadays driven by data, data analytics and Business Intelligence (BI). BI as a software platform can provide a wide variety of capabilities such as organization memory, information integration, insight creation and presentation capabilities. Visualizing data through dashboards is one of the BI solutions (for a variety of areas) which helps managers in the decision making processes to expose the most informative information at a glance. In the healthcare domain to date, dashboard presentations are more frequently used to track performance related metrics and less frequently used to monitor those quality parameters which relate directly to patient outcomes. Providing effective and timely care for patients and improving the health outcome are highly dependent on presenting and visualizing data and information. Objective: In this research, the focus is on the presentation capabilities of BI to design a dashboard for prostate cancer (PC) data that allows better decision making for the patients, the hospital and the healthcare system related to a cancer dataset. The aim of this research is to customize a retrospective PC dataset in a dashboard interface to give a better understanding of data in the categories (risk factors, treatment approaches, disease control and side effects) which matter most to patients as well as other stakeholders. By presenting the outcome in the dashboard we address one of the major targets of a value-based health care (VBHC) delivery model which is measuring the value and presenting the outcome to different actors in HC industry (such as patients and doctors) for a better decision making. Method: For visualizing the stored data to users, three interactive dashboards based on the PC dataset have been developed (using the Tableau Software) to provide better views to the risk factors, treatment approaches, and side effects. Results: Many benefits derived from interactive graphs and tables in dashboards which helped to easily visualize and see the patients at risk, better understanding the relationship between patient's status after treatment and their initial status before treatment, or to choose better decision about treatments with fewer side effects regarding patient status and etc. Conclusions: Building a well-designed and informative dashboard is related to three important factors including; the users, goals and the data types. Dashboard's hierarchies, drilling, and graphical features can guide doctors to better navigate through information. The features of the interactive PC dashboard not only let doctors ask specific questions and filter the results based on the key performance indicators (KPI) such as: Gleason Grade, Patient's Age and Status, but may also help patients to better understand different treatment outcomes, such as side effects during the time, and have an active role in their treatment decisions. Currently, we are extending the results to the real-time interactive dashboard that users (either patients and doctors) can easily explore the data by choosing preferred attribute and data to make better near real-time decisions.Keywords: business intelligence, dashboard, decision making, healthcare, prostate cancer, value-based healthcare
Procedia PDF Downloads 1432695 Targeted Delivery of Sustained Release Polymeric Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy
Authors: Jamboor K. Vishwanatha
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Among the potent anti-cancer agents, curcumin has been found to be very efficacious against various cancer cells. Despite multiple medicinal benefits of curcumin, poor water solubility, poor physiochemical properties and low bioavailability continue to pose major challenges in developing a formulation for clinical efficacy. To improve its potential application in the clinical area, we formulated poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles. The PLGA nanoparticles were formulated using solid-oil/water emulsion solvent evaporation method and then characterized for percent yield, encapsulation efficiency, surface morphology, particle size, drug distribution within nanoparticles and drug polymer interaction. Our studies showed the successful formation of smooth and spherical curcumin loaded PLGA nanoparticles with a high percent yield of about 92.01±0.13% and an encapsulation efficiency of 90.88±0.14%. The mean particle size of the nanoparticles was found to be 145nm. The in vitro drug release profile showed 55-60% drug release from the nanoparticles over a period of 24 hours with continued sustained release over a period of 8 days. Exposure to curcumin loaded nanoparticles resulted in reduced cell viability of cancer cells compared to normal cells. We used a novel non-covalent insertion of a homo-bifunctional spacer for targeted delivery of curcumin to various cancer cells. Functionalized nanoparticles for antibody/targeting agent conjugation was prepared using a cross-linking ligand, bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) suberate (BS3), which has reactive carboxyl group to conjugate efficiently to the primary amino groups of the targeting agents. In our studies, we demonstrated successful conjugation of antibodies, Annexin A2 or prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), to curcumin loaded PLGA nanoparticles for targeting to prostate and breast cancer cells. The percent antibody attachment to PLGA nanoparticles was found to be 92.8%. Efficient intra-cellular uptake of the targeted nanoparticles was observed in the cancer cells. These results have emphasized the potential of our multifunctional curcumin nanoparticles to improve the clinical efficacy of curcumin therapy in patients with cancer.Keywords: polymeric nanoparticles, cancer therapy, sustained release, curcumin
Procedia PDF Downloads 3252694 Cancer Burden and Policy Needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Jean Paul Muambangu Milambo, Peter Nyasulu, John Akudugu, Leonidas Ndayisaba, Joyce Tsoka-Gwegweni, Lebwaze Massamba Bienvenu, Mitshindo Mwambangu Chiro
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In 2018, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were responsible for 48% of deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with cancer contributing to 5% of these deaths. There is a notable absence of cancer registries, capacity-building activities, budgets, and treatment roadmaps in the DRC. Current cancer estimates are primarily based on mathematical modeling with limited data from neighboring countries. This study aimed to assess cancer subtype prevalence in Kinshasa hospitals and compare these findings with WHO model estimates. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted from 2018 to 2020 at HJ Hospitals in Kinshasa. Data were collected using American Cancer Society (ACS) questionnaires and physician logs. Descriptive analysis was performed using STATA version 16 to estimate cancer burden and provide evidence-based recommendations. Results: The results from the chart review at HJ Hospitals in Kinshasa (2018-2020) indicate that out of 6,852 samples, approximately 11.16% were diagnosed with cancer. The distribution of cancer subtypes in this cohort was as follows: breast cancer (33.6%), prostate cancer (21.8%), colorectal cancer (9.6%), lymphoma (4.6%), and cervical cancer (4.4%). These figures are based on histopathological confirmation at the facility and may not fully represent the broader population due to potential selection biases related to geographic and financial accessibility to the hospital. In contrast, the World Health Organization (WHO) model estimates for cancer prevalence in the DRC show different proportions. According to WHO data, the distribution of cancer types is as follows: cervical cancer (15.9%), prostate cancer (15.3%), breast cancer (14.9%), liver cancer (6.8%), colorectal cancer (5.9%), and other cancers (41.2%) (WHO, 2020). Conclusion: The data indicate a rising cancer prevalence in DRC but highlight significant gaps in clinical, biomedical, and genetic cancer data. The establishment of a population-based cancer registry (PBCR) and a defined cancer management pathway is crucial. The current estimates are limited due to data scarcity and inconsistencies in clinical practices. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary cancer management, integration of palliative care, and improvement in care quality based on evidence-based measures.Keywords: cancer, risk factors, DRC, gene-environment interactions, survivors
Procedia PDF Downloads 232693 Soy Candle vs Paraffin Candle
Authors: Otana A. Jakpor
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Air pollution is without a doubt one of the gravest environmental threats the world is facing today in terms of its sheer toll on human lives. Each year an estimated 70,000 Americans lose their lives to air pollution -- a number equal to deaths from both breast and prostate cancer combined. Since Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, more research is needed on indoor air pollution and common exposures such as candles. Paraffin wax is a by-product of petroleum, and similarities have been observed between fine particulate emissions from paraffin candles and diesel exhaust. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not paraffin candles are a major potential source of indoor air pollution. Furthermore, this study aims to determine whether or not soy candles are a safer, cleaner alternative to paraffin candles.Keywords: soy candle, soy, paraffin candle, paraffin
Procedia PDF Downloads 2552692 Nanorods Based Dielectrophoresis for Protein Concentration and Immunoassay
Authors: Zhen Cao, Yu Zhu, Junxue Fu
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Immunoassay, i.e., antigen-antibody reaction, is crucial for disease diagnostics. To achieve the adequate signal of the antigen protein detection, a large amount of sample and long incubation time is needed. However, the amount of protein is usually small at the early stage, which makes it difficult to detect. Unlike cells and DNAs, no valid chemical method exists for protein amplification. Thus, an alternative way to improve the signal is through particle manipulation techniques to concentrate proteins, among which dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an effective one. DEP is a technique that concentrates particles to the designated region through a force created by the gradient in a non-uniform electric field. Since DEP force is proportional to the cube of particle size and square of electric field gradient, it is relatively easy to capture larger particles such as cells. For smaller ones like proteins, a super high gradient is then required. In this work, three-dimensional Ag/SiO2 nanorods arrays, fabricated by an easy physical vapor deposition technique called as oblique angle deposition, have been integrated with a DEP device and created the field gradient as high as of 2.6×10²⁴ V²/m³. The nanorods based DEP device is able to enrich bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein by 1800-fold and the rate has reached 180-fold/s when only applying 5 V electric potential. Based on the above nanorods integrated DEP platform, an immunoassay of mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) proteins has been performed. Briefly, specific antibodies are immobilized onto nanorods, then IgG proteins are concentrated and captured, and finally, the signal from fluorescence-labelled antibodies are detected. The limit of detection (LoD) is measured as 275.3 fg/mL (~1.8 fM), which is a 20,000-fold enhancement compared with identical assays performed on blank glass plates. Further, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which is a cancer biomarker for diagnosis of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy, is also quantified with a LoD as low as 2.6 pg/mL. The time to signal saturation has been significantly reduced to one minute. In summary, together with an easy nanorod fabrication and integration method, this nanorods based DEP platform has demonstrated highly sensitive immunoassay performance and thus poses great potentials in applications for early point-of-care diagnostics.Keywords: dielectrophoresis, immunoassay, oblique angle deposition, protein concentration
Procedia PDF Downloads 1032691 Noncovalent Antibody-Nanomaterial Conjugates: A Simple Approach to Produce Targeted Nanomedicines
Authors: Nicholas Fletcher, Zachary Houston, Yongmei Zhao, Christopher Howard, Kristofer Thurecht
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One promising approach to enhance nanomedicine therapeutic efficacy is to include a targeting agent, such as an antibody, to increase accumulation at the tumor site. However, the application of such targeted nanomedicines remains limited, in part due to difficulties involved with biomolecule conjugation to synthetic nanomaterials. One approach recently developed to overcome this has been to engineer bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) with dual specificity, whereby one portion binds to methoxy polyethyleneglycol (mPEG) epitopes present on synthetic nanomedicines, while the other binds to molecular disease markers of interest. In this way, noncovalent complexes of nanomedicine core, comprising a hyperbranched polymer (HBP) of primarily mPEG, decorated with targeting ligands are able to be produced by simple mixing. Further work in this area has now demonstrated such complexes targeting the breast cancer marker epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to show enhanced binding to tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Indeed the enhanced accumulation at the tumor site resulted in improved therapeutic outcomes compared to untargeted nanomedicines and free chemotherapeutics. The current work on these BsAb-HBP conjugates focuses on further probing antibody-nanomaterial interactions and demonstrating broad applicability to a range of cancer types. Herein are reported BsAb-HBP materials targeted towards prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and study of their behavior in vivo using ⁸⁹Zr positron emission tomography (PET) in a dual-tumor prostate cancer xenograft model. In this model mice bearing both PSMA+ and PSMA- tumors allow for PET imaging to discriminate between nonspecific and targeted uptake in tumors, and better quantify the increased accumulation following BsAb conjugation. Also examined is the potential for formation of these targeted complexes in situ following injection of individual components? The aim of this approach being to avoid undesirable clearance of proteinaceous complexes upon injection limiting available therapeutic. Ultimately these results demonstrate BsAb functionalized nanomaterials as a powerful and versatile approach for producing targeted nanomedicines for a variety of cancers.Keywords: bioengineering, cancer, nanomedicine, polymer chemistry
Procedia PDF Downloads 1432690 Metagenomics, Urinary Microbiome, and Chronic Prostatitis
Authors: Elmira Davasaz Tabrizi, Mushteba Sevil, Ercan Arican
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Directly or indirectly, the human microbiome, or the population of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the human body, has been linked with human health. Various research has examined the connection with both illness status and the composition of the human microbiome, even though current studies indicate that the gut microbiome influences the mucosa and immune system. A significant amount of effort is being put into understanding the human microbiome's natural history in terms of health outcomes while also expanding our comprehension of the molecular connections between the microbiome and the host. To maintain health and avoid disease, these efforts ultimately seek to find efficient methods for recovering human microbial communities. This review article describes how the human microbiome leads to chronic diseases and discusses evidence for an important significant disorder that is related to the microbiome and linked to prostate cancer: chronic prostatitis (CP).Keywords: urobiome, chronic prostatitis, metagenomic, urinary microbiome
Procedia PDF Downloads 762689 Phantom and Clinical Evaluation of Block Sequential Regularized Expectation Maximization Reconstruction Algorithm in Ga-PSMA PET/CT Studies Using Various Relative Difference Penalties and Acquisition Durations
Authors: Fatemeh Sadeghi, Peyman Sheikhzadeh
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Introduction: Block Sequential Regularized Expectation Maximization (BSREM) reconstruction algorithm was recently developed to suppress excessive noise by applying a relative difference penalty. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various strengths of noise penalization factor in the BSREM algorithm under different acquisition duration and lesion sizes in order to determine an optimum penalty factor by considering both quantitative and qualitative image evaluation parameters in clinical uses. Materials and Methods: The NEMA IQ phantom and 15 clinical whole-body patients with prostate cancer were evaluated. Phantom and patients were injected withGallium-68 Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen(68 Ga-PSMA)and scanned on a non-time-of-flight Discovery IQ Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography(PET/CT) scanner with BGO crystals. The data were reconstructed using BSREM with a β-value of 100-500 at an interval of 100. These reconstructions were compared to OSEM as a widely used reconstruction algorithm. Following the standard NEMA measurement procedure, background variability (BV), recovery coefficient (RC), contrast recovery (CR) and residual lung error (LE) from phantom data and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-background ratio (SBR) and tumor SUV from clinical data were measured. Qualitative features of clinical images visually were ranked by one nuclear medicine expert. Results: The β-value acts as a noise suppression factor, so BSREM showed a decreasing image noise with an increasing β-value. BSREM, with a β-value of 400 at a decreased acquisition duration (2 min/ bp), made an approximately equal noise level with OSEM at an increased acquisition duration (5 min/ bp). For the β-value of 400 at 2 min/bp duration, SNR increased by 43.7%, and LE decreased by 62%, compared with OSEM at a 5 min/bp duration. In both phantom and clinical data, an increase in the β-value is translated into a decrease in SUV. The lowest level of SUV and noise were reached with the highest β-value (β=500), resulting in the highest SNR and lowest SBR due to the greater noise reduction than SUV reduction at the highest β-value. In compression of BSREM with different β-values, the relative difference in the quantitative parameters was generally larger for smaller lesions. As the β-value decreased from 500 to 100, the increase in CR was 160.2% for the smallest sphere (10mm) and 12.6% for the largest sphere (37mm), and the trend was similar for SNR (-58.4% and -20.5%, respectively). BSREM visually was ranked more than OSEM in all Qualitative features. Conclusions: The BSREM algorithm using more iteration numbers leads to more quantitative accuracy without excessive noise, which translates into higher overall image quality and lesion detectability. This improvement can be used to shorter acquisition time.Keywords: BSREM reconstruction, PET/CT imaging, noise penalization, quantification accuracy
Procedia PDF Downloads 982688 Incorporating Ground Sand in Production of Self-Consolidating Concrete to Decrease High Paste Volume and Improve Passing Ability of Self-Consolidating Concrete
Authors: S. K. Ling, A. K. H. Kwan
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The production of SCC (self-consolidating concrete) generally requires a fairy high paste volume, ranging from 35% to 40% of the total concrete volume. Such high paste volume would lead to low dimensional stability and high carbon footprint. Direct lowering the paste volume would deteriorate the performance of SCC, especially the passing ability. It is often observed that at narrow gap of congested reinforcements, the paste often flows in the front leaving the coarse aggregate particle behind to block the subsequent flow of concrete. Herein, it is suggested to increase the mortar volume through incorporating ground sand with a mean size of 0.3 mm while keeping the paste volume small. Trial concrete mixes with paste volumes of 30% and 34% and different ground sand contents have been tested to demonstrate how the paste volume can be lowered without sacrificing the passing ability. Overall, the results demonstrated that the addition of ground sand would enable the achievement of high passing ability at a relatively small paste volume.Keywords: ground sand, mortar volume, paste volume, self-consolidating concrete
Procedia PDF Downloads 2792687 Significance of Tridimensional Volume of Tumor in Breast Cancer Compared to Conventional TNM Stage
Authors: Jaewoo Choi, Ki-Tae Hwang, Eunyoung Ko
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Backgrounds/Aims: Patients with breast cancer are currently classified according to TNM stage. Nevertheless, the actual volume would be mis-estimated, and it would bring on inappropriate diagnosis. Tridimensional volume-stage derived from the ellipsoid formula was presented as useful measure. Methods: The medical records of 480 consecutive breast cancer between January 2001 and March 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were divided into three groups according to tumor volume by receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the ranges of each volume-stage were that V1 was below 2.5 cc, V2 was exceeded 2.5 and below 10.9 cc, and V3 was exceeded 10.9 cc. We analyzed outcomes of volume-stage and compared disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) between size-stage and volume-stage with variant intrinsic factor. Results: In the T2 stage, there were patients who had a smaller volume than 4.2 cc known as maximum value of T1. These findings presented that patients in T1c had poorer DFS than T2-lesser (mean of DFS 48.7 vs. 51.8, p = 0.011). Such is also the case in OS (mean of OS 51.1 vs. 55.3, p = 0.006). The cumulative survival curves for V1, V2 compared T1, T2 showed similarity in DFS (HR 1.9 vs. 1.9), and so did it for V3 compared T3 (HR 3.5 vs. 2.6) significantly. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that tumor volume had good feasibility on the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. We proposed that volume-stage should be considered for an additional stage indicator, particularly in early breast cancer.Keywords: breast cancer, tridimensional volume of tumor, TNM stage, volume stage
Procedia PDF Downloads 4032686 Effects of Butea superba Roxb. on Skeletal Muscle Functions and Parvalbumin Levels of Orchidectomized Rat
Authors: Surapong Vongvatcharanon, Fardeela Binalee, Wandee Udomuksorn, Ekkasit Kumarnsit, Uraporn Vongvatcharanon
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Hypogonadism is characterized by a decline in sex hormone levels, especially testosterone. It has been shown to be an important contributor to the decrease in muscle mass, muscle strength and performance, a condition known as sarcopenia. Preparations from Butea superba Roxb. (red Kwao Krua) have been reported to have androgenic properties. The active compounds are proposed to be flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides. Treatment with B. superba has been shown to improve erectile dysfunction in males. Parvalbumin (PV) is a relaxing factor and identified in fast twitch fibers. Alterations of the PV levels affects skeletal muscle functions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of orhchidectomy, testosterone replacement and different doses of Butea superba Roxb. on the structure, performance, levels of parvalbumin, parvalbumin and androgen receptor immunoreactivities in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and gastrocnemius muscles of orchidectomized rats. Twelve-week old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups; sham-operated (SHAM), orchidectomized (BS-0), orchidectomized group that was treated with testosterone replacement of 6 µg/kg (TP) or an orchidectomized group that was treated with various doses of an extract from Butea superba Roxb.; 5 mg/kg (BS-5), 50 mg/kg (BS-50) and 500 mg/kg (BS-500) all for 90 days. The testosterone level, epididymis, seminal vesicle, prostate gland, vas deference weight, muscle fiber size, strength and endurance in both the EDL and gastrocnemius muscle were decreased in the BS-0 group but increased in the testosterone replacement group. Treatment with the B. superba Roxb. extract replacement group improved muscle fiber size, strength and endurance, but not total testosterone levels, or the epididymis, seminal vesicle, prostate gland, vas deference weight. Furthermore, the parvalbumin level, parvalbumin and androgen receptor immunoreactivities were reduced in the BS-0 group but increased in the testosterone replacement group and the B. superba Roxb. extract groups for both the EDL and gastrocnemius muscle. This study indicated that the reduction of testosterone level led to a decrease of the androgen receptor density resulting in a decline in the muscle mass and parvalbumin levels. The decrease of parvalbumin levels affected muscle performance. Testosterone replacement increased the androgen receptor density and led to an increase of muscle mass and parvalbumin levels. The increase in the parvalbumin levels may result in an improvement of muscle performance. This may explain one mechanism of testosterone on muscle mass and strength in the testosterone dependent sarcopenia. The B. superba Roxb. extract groups also had improved muscle mass, strength and endurance, parvalbumin level, parvalbumin and androgen immunoreactivities compared to the BS-O group . Butea superba Roxb. Extracts contains a flavonoid (3, 7, 3'-Trihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavone), flavonoiglycoside (3, 3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyflavone-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and isoflavanolignans (butesuperins A and butesuperins B) all known to inhibit the cAMP phosphodiesterase enzyme. Therefore, cAMP signaling may have adaptive effects on skeletal muscle by increasing muscle mass, strength and endurance.Keywords: Butea superba, parvalbumin, skeletal muscle, orchidectomy
Procedia PDF Downloads 4262685 Involvement of Multi-Drug Resistance Protein (Mrp) 3 in Resveratrol Protection against Methotrexate-Induced Testicular Damage
Authors: Mohamed A. Morsy, Azza A. K. El-Sheikh, Abdulla Y. Al-Taher
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The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of resveratrol (RES) on methotrexate (MTX)-induced testicular damage. RES (10 mg/kg/day) was given for 8 days orally and MTX (20 mg/kg i.p.) was given at day 4 of experiment, with or without RES in rats. MTX decreased serum testosterone, induced histopathological testicular damage, increased testicular tumor necrosis factor-α level and expression of nuclear factor-κB and cyclooxygenase-2. In MTX/RES group, significant reversal of these parameters was noticed, compared to MTX group. Testicular expression of multidrug resistance protein (Mrp) 3 was three- and five-folds higher in RES- and MTX/RES-treated groups, respectively. In vitro, using prostate cancer cells, each of MTX and RES alone induced cytotoxicity with IC50 0.18 ± 0.08 and 20.5 ± 3.6 µM, respectively. RES also significantly enhanced cytotoxicity of MTX. In conclusion, RES appears to have dual beneficial effect, as it promotes MTX tumor cytotoxicity, while protecting the testes, probably via up-regulation of testicular Mrp3 as a novel mechanism.Keywords: resveratrol, methotrexate, multidrug resistance protein 3, tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κB, cyclooxygenase-2
Procedia PDF Downloads 4542684 The Impact of Centralisation on Radical Prostatectomy Outcomes: Our Outcomes
Authors: Jemini Vyas, Oluwatobi Adeyoe, Jenny Branagan, Chandran Tanabalan, John Beatty, Aakash Pai
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Introduction: The development of robotic surgery has accelerated centralisation to tertiary centres, where robotic radical prostatectomy (RP) is offered. The purpose of concentrating treatment in high volume specialist centres is to improve the quality of care and patient outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the impact on clinical outcomes of centralisation for locally diagnosed patients undergoing RP. Methods: Clinical outcomes for 169 consecutive laparoscopic & open RP pre-centralisation were retrospectively compared with 50 consecutive robotic RP conducted over a similar period post-centralisation. Preoperative risk stratification and time to surgery were collected. Perioperative outcomes, including length of stay (LOS) and complications, were collated. Post-operative outcomes, including erectile dysfunction (ED), biochemical recurrence (BCR), and urinary continence, were assessed. Results: Preoperative risk stratification showed no difference between the two groups. The median time from diagnosis to treatment was similar between the two groups (pre-centralisation, 121 days, post-centralisation, 117 days). The mean length of stay (pre-centralisation, 2.1 days, post-centralisation, 1.6 days) showed no significant difference (p=0.073). Proportion of overall complications (pre-centralisation, 11.4%, post-centralisation, 8.7%) and complications, above Clavien-Dindo 2, were similar between the two groups (pre-centralisation1.2%, post-centralisation 2.2%). Post operative functional parameters, including continence and ED, were comparable. Five-year BCR free rate was 78% for the pre-centralisation group and 79% for the post centralisation group. Conclusion: For our cohort of patients, clinical outcomes have remained static during centralisation. It is imperative that centralisation is accompanied by increased capacity, streamlining of pathways, and training to ensure that improved quality of care is achieved. Our institution has newly acquired a robot, and prospectively studying this data may support the reversal of centralisation for RP surgery.Keywords: prostate, cancer, prostatectomy, clinical
Procedia PDF Downloads 952683 Forecasting Cancers Cases in Algeria Using Double Exponential Smoothing Method
Authors: Messis A., Adjebli A., Ayeche R., Talbi M., Tighilet K., Louardiane M.
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Cancers are the second cause of death worldwide. Prevalence and incidence of cancers is getting increased by aging and population growth. This study aims to predict and modeling the evolution of breast, Colorectal, Lung, Bladder and Prostate cancers over the period of 2014-2019. In this study, data were analyzed using time series analysis with double exponential smoothing method to forecast the future pattern. To describe and fit the appropriate models, Minitab statistical software version 17 was used. Between 2014 and 2019, the overall trend in the raw number of new cancer cases registered has been increasing over time; the change in observations over time has been increasing. Our forecast model is validated since we have good prediction for the period 2020 and data not available for 2021 and 2022. Time series analysis showed that the double exponential smoothing is an efficient tool to model the future data on the raw number of new cancer cases.Keywords: cancer, time series, prediction, double exponential smoothing
Procedia PDF Downloads 89