Quality Assurance In LDR And HDR Prostate Brachytherapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$221,500.00
Summary
Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men over 55 years of age. Approximately 30% of all diagnosed cancers in this age group are prostate carcinomas. Low and high dose rate brachytherapy are newly established treatment options for early-stage, low-risk, prostate cancer and are an alternative to curative prostatectomy in most patients. Local control and cure of prostate cancer is greatly influenced by the dose distribution generated by both the treatment techniques. Tre ....Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in men over 55 years of age. Approximately 30% of all diagnosed cancers in this age group are prostate carcinomas. Low and high dose rate brachytherapy are newly established treatment options for early-stage, low-risk, prostate cancer and are an alternative to curative prostatectomy in most patients. Local control and cure of prostate cancer is greatly influenced by the dose distribution generated by both the treatment techniques. Treatment plans must be able to deliver a prescribed dose in the tumour, with adequate margins, while minimising the dose delivered to the surrounding normal tissue and critical organs. It is well recognised that, however skilful the radiation oncologist, an ideal dose distribution according to a treatment plan plan does not guarantee a well delivered dose. Complications such as impotence, severe radiation urethritis and severe rectal bleeding will arise if overdosing of the neuro-vascular bundle, urethra and rectum occurs respectively. This project is based on newly developed instrumentation that will allow continuous, realtime, in vivo, monitoring of the radiation dose levels in the urethra and rectum during brachytherapy treatment of prostate cancer. Such monitoring of the treatment procedure, has been identified as a high priority by the American Brachytherapy Society. The technique will allow extensive in vivo and post treatment studies to be performed by clinicians so as to measure the dose levels currently received and identify the optimum acceptable dose levels for future procedures. The outcomes of this project may well be able to be utilised in other forms of brachytherapy treament (e.g. breast, cervical cancer) and other radiation treatment modailities (e.g. conventional radiotherapy and intensity modulated radiotherapy) to also reduce complications associated with these treatment modalities.Read moreRead less
First Ever System To Continuously And Directly Measure The Internal Anatomy To Guide Breast Cancer Radiation Treatment Under Deep Inspiration Breath Hold
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,766.00
Summary
We propose a first ever system to continuously and directly measure the internal anatomy of the patient during radiotherapy of left sided breast cancer to ensure correct position of patient and radiation beam. The proposed method involves no additional radiation dose to the patient. It relies on existing components of modern radiation treatment machines, requiring no additional equipment, which will make it easy to implement widely.
Improving Radiation Therapy Of Static And Moving Targets Using High Spatial Resolution Real-time Dosimeters
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$544,425.00
Summary
Radiation therapy is a major oncology modality for cancer treatment and more than 50% of cancer patients can benefit from radiotherapy at some stage of management. This project will develop two real-time, high spatial resolution dosimetry systems for quality assurance of contemporary radiation treatments of static and movable targets. It will be possible to minimize human and robotic system error so as to guarantee accurate cancer treatment delivery and improve the clinical outcomes of radiother ....Radiation therapy is a major oncology modality for cancer treatment and more than 50% of cancer patients can benefit from radiotherapy at some stage of management. This project will develop two real-time, high spatial resolution dosimetry systems for quality assurance of contemporary radiation treatments of static and movable targets. It will be possible to minimize human and robotic system error so as to guarantee accurate cancer treatment delivery and improve the clinical outcomes of radiotherapy.Read moreRead less
Translating Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy Into A Clinical Reality For Cancer Patients
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,896.00
Summary
The aim of this project is to translate an experimental radiotherapy technique, known as microbeam radiotherapy, into a clinical reality for the benefit of cancer patients world-wide. I propose to achieve this aim by working at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France. The ESRF is Europe’s most powerful synchrotron light source, where a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and physicians are collaborating to treat the first human cancer patients with synchrotron radiation.
The proposed project is part of a research programme aimed at developing a new drug to reduce the side effects of cancer radiotherapy. These side effects result from the radiation damage to normal tissues close to the tumour. Since in many instances the normal tissues at risk are accessible to topical application (eg. skin in breast cancer patients, rectal mucosa in prostate cancer patients, oral mucosa in all patients being treated for tumours in the head and neck region) the concept is very si ....The proposed project is part of a research programme aimed at developing a new drug to reduce the side effects of cancer radiotherapy. These side effects result from the radiation damage to normal tissues close to the tumour. Since in many instances the normal tissues at risk are accessible to topical application (eg. skin in breast cancer patients, rectal mucosa in prostate cancer patients, oral mucosa in all patients being treated for tumours in the head and neck region) the concept is very simple. A drug which makes cells less sensitive to X-rays (these drugs are called radioprotectors) is simply applied topically to the normal tissues at risk. For this purpose, we have developed a new radioprotecting drug called methylproamine which is 100-fold more potent than previously-developed radioprotectors. Unfortunately, methylproamine is not suitable for our purpose because at higher concentrations it is toxic to some cells. This hurdle must be overcome in order to make the project attractive to potential commercial sponsors. Our aim is to modify methylproamine by removing the molecular features that cause the cytotoxicity. We have established that this is feasible, by synthesising and evaluating a small family of methylproamine analogues. Some less toxic family members have already been identified. With this knowledge, we now propose to use special computer programmes to design a much larger family of methylproamine analogues, and to synthesise and test each one in order to identify the most promising candidate for our purpose. Once the efficacy window hurdle is passed, the subsequent milestones to commercialisation and clinical implementation can be addressed, with appropriate sponsorship. An Australian company has already expressed strong interest and is evaluating the opportunity.Read moreRead less
X-RATE: A Novel Radiation Detector Platform To Realize New Opportunities In Radiotherapy At The Australian Synchrotron
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$347,541.00
Summary
Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) is an emerging X-ray radiosurgery modality that offers new hope for the treatment of brain cancer and other human brain diseases. A tissue equivalent radiation dosimetry system is essential for upcoming MRT human trials to precisely verify treatment plans. We are recognized world leaders in real-time silicon detector instrumentation for radiation dosimetry. We plan to develop and demonstrate X-RATE, the X-ray Real-time Active Tissue Equivalent dosimeter.
REVEALING MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF THE SYNCHROTRON RADIATION-INDUCED BYSTANDER EFFECT
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$429,294.00
Summary
Radiotherapy, a major treatment for more than half of cancer patients, is based on the dogma that radiation kills targeted cells. The radiation-induced bystander effect, by which the neighbours of irradiated cells can also damaged, is a new paradigm. What is the "danger signal" which induces DNA damage in un-irradiated normal tissues, and what minimal volume of tissue needs to be irradiated to induce bystander damage? The answers could have a major impact on optimising radiotherapy treatment.