Graduate Student Seminar Series – Barry Bytensky

Graduate Student Seminar Series
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Location: MS2158 – 1 King’s College Circle
Presentation Title: Simulating Focused Ultrasound Therapies for Paediatric Retinoblastoma
Abstract: Retinoblastoma is the most common eye cancer in children and has a high survival rate due to the removal of eyes with large tumours. In most cases, chemotherapy is used to reduce the size of tumours, which may fail to prevent the cancer from coming back and can damage surrounding tissues in the eye. New treatments seek to precisely target tumours without harming healthy tissues. Focused ultrasound is a non-invasive therapeutic tool that concentrates sound waves within a volume the size of a grain of rice. This may be used for burning eye tumours directly, or to improve the delivery of chemotherapy drugs. This, in turn, may enable improved eye tumour treatment. To investigate potential ultrasound therapies, a computer program was developed that can simulate the ultrasound and thermal properties of the eye in 3D. Using paediatric eye models from patient MRI scans, simulations have suggested focused ultrasound can be used to heat retinoblastoma tumours without damaging surrounding structures such as the lens. In this research project, tissue-mimicking eye models will be developed, and their ultrasound and thermal properties will be measured. Simulated and experimentally measured temperatures in these models will be compared to ensure the computer program can accurately predict treatment results. Furthermore, this computer program will be developed into a comprehensive treatment planning tool to determine ideal treatment configurations and design new ultrasound systems. Finally, this tool will be used in animal studies investigating the use of ultrasound to treat eye cancers. This will result in a simulation platform which can be used to predict the outcomes of a wide range of ultrasound treatments.
Supervisor Name: George Ibrahim
Year of Study: 2
Program of Study: PhD
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