I-Corps: Minimizing the risk of radiation to prostate cancer patients

I-Corps：最大限度地降低前列腺癌患者的辐射风险

• 批准号: 1916364
• 负责人: Mohammad Elahinia
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Toledo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-03-15 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1916364&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Minimizing; risk; radiation; prostate

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is by improving the quality of life of prostate and potentially other pelvic cancer patients who receive radiation therapy (RT). Followed by skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. The American Cancer Society's estimate for prostate cancer in the United States for 2018 was 164,690 new cases. Most of these cases will receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment. The new trend in RT is to deliver a much higher dose of radiation per fraction in a smaller number of fractions while reducing the required number of RT sessions. However, during RT of the prostate, the rectum acts as a limiting factor. Due to the proximity of rectum to prostate, increasing dosage of the radiation can affect the rectal wall and increase risk of cancer in rectum. The device developed here allows for the expedited treatment plans while eliminating the undesirable damage to the rectal tissue. This can greatly improve a patient's quality of life after completion of radiation treatment. The use of our device reduces the overall required time for the radiation therapy of prostate cancer and saves money for health care providers, health insurances, and patients.This I-Corps project leverages the functionality of nickel titanium to retract the rectum away from the prostate during radiation beam therapy of prostate cancer. This will be a minimally invasive device that uses the biomimetic actuation of the material to create distance between rectum and prostate. NiTi as a biocompatible shape memory alloy is an ideal candidate for biomimetic and biocompatible devices. A control systems design is combined with thermomechanical functionality of the alloy to generate the desired range of motion and profile of force. The actuation takes place by passing a small electrical current in a reliable, clean, and silent manner. This type of actuation is potentially inherently safer when compared to most other means of actuation, because it has a limited range of motion beyond which applying more electrical current does not create further motion.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改善前列腺癌患者以及其他可能接受放射治疗 (RT) 的盆腔癌患者的生活质量。继皮肤癌之后，前列腺癌是美国男性最常见的癌症。美国癌症协会估计 2018 年美国前列腺癌​​新发病例为 164,690 例。大多数病例将接受放射治疗作为治疗的一部分。放疗的新趋势是以更少的分次次数提供更高的每次放疗剂量，同时减少所需的放疗次数。然而，在前列腺放疗期间，直肠充当限制因素。由于直肠靠近前列腺，增加辐射剂量会影响直肠壁并增加直肠癌症的风险。这里开发的设备可以加快治疗计划，同时消除对直肠组织的不良损伤。 这可以极大地改善患者完成放射治疗后的生活质量。使用我们的设备减少了前列腺癌放射治疗所需的总体时间，并为医疗保健提供者、健康保险和患者节省了资金。这个 I-Corps 项目利用镍钛的功能将直肠从前列腺上缩回在前列腺癌的放射束治疗期间。这将是一种微创设备，利用材料的仿生驱动在直肠和前列腺之间产生距离。 NiTi 作为一种生物相容性形状记忆合金，是仿生和生物相容性设备的理想选择。控制系统设计与合金的热机械功能相结合，以产生所需的运动范围和力的分布。通过以可靠、清洁和安静的方式传递小电流来进行驱动。与大多数其他驱动方式相比，这种类型的驱动本质上可能更安全，因为它的运动范围有限，超出该范围施加更多电流不会产生进一步的运动。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。