Terramed Alliance News Treating Breast Cancer With Adapted Space-Industry Technology
Posted in Breast Cancer on January 15th, 2010 by Admin – Be the first to commentPowered by Max Banner Ads
Preliminary results from the study are being showed during the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Assembly in Chicago, being held from November 1 – 5, 2009.
Approximately 80 percent of breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment develop acute skin reactions that range in severity. The more severe reactions cause discomfort and distress to the patient, and sometimes result in treatment interruptions. The severity is quite variable among patients and hard to predict.
“Because reactions usually occur from 10 to 14 days with the commencement of therapy, if we could predict skin reactions sooner we may be able to offer preventative treatment to make the most of effectiveness and minimize interruption of radiation treatment,” said Dr. Katherine Griem, professor of radiation oncology at Rush.
Unlike most thermal imaging studies which have quantitative limitations, 3DTT measures the thermal effusivity of skin tissue. Thermal effusivity is a rate of a material’s skill to exchange heat with its surroundings.
In this study, a flash of light is used to heat up the skin. An infrared camera captures a series of images over time that show the temperature of the skin, represented by colors. An algorithm developed by Argonne is used to calculate the temperature change and determine the thermal effusivity of different areas of the skin.
“How quickly the skin cools is related to the organize underneath. Hurt skin cells have different effusivity values compared to that of healthy skin, said James Chu, PhD, chairperson of the part of medical physics at Rush. “By identifying the earliest changes in hurt tissue, we may be able to predict acute skin toxicities.”
“Our initial data with radiation induced skin changes are quite encouraging,” said Dr. Alan Coon, chief resident of radiation oncology at Rush and primary author on the study. “In addition to finding decreases in effusivity of the treated areas many days before the development of skin reactions, we have also seen that the magnitude of these decreases varies with the grade of the reactions. This exciting result bodes well for the clinical utility of this technique in predicting the severity of a skin reaction before it occurs.”
In addition, researchers note that 3DTT techniques can be used to rate these tissue property changes noninvasively with no interruption of therapy and the technique allowed for swift pointer.
“3DTT may also be used to detect other skin diseases such as skin cancer and rate skin hurt caused by electricity or lightening. Such applications require the determinations of tissue conditions below the skin that is normally not visible but can be leisurely by 3DTT,” said J.G. Sun, a mechanical engineer at Argonne.
Researchers plot to perform bonus studies to confirm the preliminary results and hope to soon commence studying 3DTT in breast cancer patients.
The investigators on the project include Dr. Katherine Griem, James Chu, PhD; Dr. Alan Coon; Damian Bernard, PhD; Riu Yao and Alistair Templeton, all from Rush Academe Medical Center and J.G. Sun from Argonne National Laboratory. Fund: Kim Waterman Rush Academe Medical Center
Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease. For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us
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