Yttrium-90 microspheres radioembolization, or Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT), is a treatment in which a catheter inserted in the patient’s hepatic artery delivers radioactive 90Y microspheres to the liver. It is increasingly utilized to treat patients with unresectable liver tumors, but some of its potential to improve overall survival is still untapped. The major obstacle in making SIRT more efficient is the highly unreliable dose calculation that does not include important parameters such as well-known non-uniformities or the location of the injection point.
The objective of this project is to develop accurate patient-specific dosimetry for SIRT planning. We propose a novel method combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the 90Y microsphere 3D distribution and 90Y physics modeling to predict the absorbed dose.Our long-term goal is developing a tool that can be integrated in clinical workflow to optimize the quantityand injection point of 90Y microspheres during SIRT planning.
CFD-based dosimetry using standard-of-care angiographic data
In parallel to dose prediction, we are also developing quantitative methods for Y-90 PET to verify the dose post treatment. This translational research is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Radiology at UC Davis Health.
Publications
- Taebi et al, Hepatic arterial tree segmentation: Towards patient-specific dosimetry for liver cancer radioembolization, JNM 60 (supp1), 122
- Roncali et al., Personalized dosimetry for liver cancer radioembolization using fluid dynamics, JNM 58 (supp1), 603
Funding
NIH R21 CA237686 (NCI ITCR)
CCSG P30 (NCI P30CA093373) 2017-2019
NIH R35 CA197608
UC Davis Innovation Development Award 2016-2018
Contact
Emilie Roncali, eroncali@ucdavis.edu