Two compartment phantom for modeling hepatic tumors

Patrick McNeillie, MS2University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSchool of Medicine

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 2

Liver Cancer Statistics5th Highest Incidence3rd Highest Mortality

Incidence: (new cases)Hepatocellular Carcinoma

World: 600,000/yearUS: 22,000/year

5-year survival: 7%Cover, Oncology Times Special Supplement on Colorectal Cancer, May 2005

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 3

Treatments-old favorites• Chemotherapy

– Liver cancer tends to be resistant

– Limited use

• Resection– High survival, if all

removed– Invasive,

complications

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 4

Treatments-future• Radiation

– Effective– Harmful to regional organs

• Radiofrequency Ablation– High recurrence rate– Few complications

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 5

How to study treatments?• Computer Simulations- not clinically

relevant, based on ideal models• Animals- OK models, difficult to

correlate, expensive, time consuming• People- IRB nightmare, illegal

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 6

Phantom

• phan·tom (fan·tom) noun– a model of the body or one of its parts

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 7

Properties• Imaging:

– MRI– CT– Ultrasound

• Radiofrequency Ablation

• Radiation Therapy• Resection

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 8

Hypoxia – Tumor Size

Courtesy Hall, E. Radiobiology 1998

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 9

Imaging-MRI

Real PatientPhantom

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 10

Imaging-CT

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 11

Imaging-US

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 12

RFA-Thermal

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 13

RFA- Before and After

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 14

Radiation

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 15

Radiation- Gamma (T99)

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 16

Radiation- Beta (Y-90)

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 17

Shortcomings

• Does not contain live cells, cannot test chemotherapy

• Does not have vascular system, cannot test endovascular therapies

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 18

Summary

• Production of tissue-mimicking liver phantom

• Imaging: MRI, CT, and US

• Radiofrequency Ablation• Radiation

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 19

Shameless Plug• GO UNC Beat Duke

March 7, 2008 Patrick McNeillie, MS2 20

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Oldest State University in the US: established 1773