VISE Spring Seminar – Punit Prakash, PhD
VISE Spring Seminar
to be led by
Punit Prakash, PhD,
Paul L. Spainhour Professorship in Electrical Engineering,
Kansas State University
Date: March 14, 2019
Location: Stevenson 5326
Time: 12:25 p.m. start, 12:15 p.m. lunch
Title:
Devices and energy-delivery strategies for precise image-guided microwave thermal therapy
Abstract:
Image-guided microwave thermal ablation has emerged as a minimally invasive modality for treatment of localized tumors and benign disease. Thermal ablation is clinically appealing because it is low-cost, can be safely delivered multiple times since it employs non-ionizing radiation, and is well tolerated by the elderly and others not amenable to invasive surgery. Moderate heating at temperatures in the sub-ablative range (~40 – 50 oC), temperatures which are also found at the margin of ablation zones, yield biophysical effects which offer opportunities for manipulating cell function. This seminar will present our group’s recent efforts towards the development of technologies for predictable, precise, and controlled delivery of microwave thermal therapy. A principle focus of our current work is the development of flexible microwave applicators suitable for bronchoscopic delivery of ablation to lung tumor targets, integrated with a clinically established platform for bronchoscopic navigation and transparenchymal nodule access. Results from preliminary pre-clinical in vivo studies will be presented. Progress towards the development of computational modeling tools for predictive treatment planning of lung ablation procedures will be discussed. We will also discuss the application of microwave applicators with precise spatial (angular and axial) control of radiation pattern for treatment of targets in the adrenal gland, liver, and other sites. Finally, the presentation will conclude with description of an experimental platform for delivering microwave thermal therapy to small-animal targets under high-field 14.1 T MRI thermometry.