| KEYWORD |
Area Engineering
Temperature maps reconstruction in microwave cancer hyperthermia
Thesis in external company
keywords HYPERTHERMIA FOR CANCER TREATMENT, NUMERICAL SIMUL
Reference persons GIUSEPPE VECCHI
External reference persons Rossella Gaffoglio, Marco Righero, Links Foundation
Research Groups Applied Electromagnetics
Thesis type MASTER THESIS
Description Microwave hyperthermia is a medical therapy currently employed in the clinic for cancer treatment, and whose associated research is translational. In it, tumors are exposed to a supra-physiological temperature (42/43 °C) by means of proper antenna systems to sensitize cancer cells towards radiation and drugs [1]. Temperature control is crucial in hyperthermia treatments, to check the effectiveness of the heating in the target region and to avoid dangerous hotspots in the surrounding healthy tissues. In current clinical practice, temperature monitoring is achieved in an invasive manner, with temperature probes inserted into closed-tip catheters [2]. An extensive and innovative use of high-performance simulations carried out prior to treatment seems to be a promising way to produce accurate and reliable temperature maps during treatment from a minimal number of direct measurement points. This could provide dual benefit to the patient, yielding accurate temperature estimations in points where temperature is not known, and reducing the infection risk via a minimal use of catheters.
This thesis aims at implementing an efficient “library” of high-performance simulations of a numerical phantom, verifying the possibility to obtain reliable temperature maps of the whole region of interest from scarce data acquisition
1.N. R. Datta et al., “Local hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy and-/or chemotherapy: Recent advances and promises for the future,”, Cancer Treat. Rev., vol. 41, no. 9, pp. 742-53, 2015.
2. M. M. Paulides et al., “Status quo and directions in deep head and neck hyperthermia,” Radiat. Oncol., vol. 11, no. 21, pp. 809-21, 2016.
See also https://linksfoundation.com/lavora-con-noi/proposte-di-tesi/
Notes Expected duration: 6 person-months
The thesis will be developed at Fondazione LINKS, Antenna and EMC Lab.
Deadline 16/05/2025
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