Presenter: Alexander John Vatousios
Faculty Sponsor: Sumientra Rampersad
School: UMass Boston
Research Area: Physics
Session: Poster Session 3, 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM, Auditorium, A9
ABSTRACT
For patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), there are limited treatment options, often restricted to surgical resection, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Tumor treating field therapy (TTF) has emerged as a noninvasive treatment in humans, applying electrodes to the scalp and delivering alternating electric fields to disrupt mitotic activity in cancer cells. However, the current transcranial TTF therapy faces limitations, including reduced field penetration in deep rooted tumor regions, requiring a high applied current, as well as quality of life burdens such as continuous head shavings. This study investigated the feasibility of intracranial tumor treating field therapy (iTTF) as an alternative approach for improving electric field delivery to deep-seated GBM. Given the pathological similarities between canine and human GBM we will investigate iTTF in French Bulldogs as a potential translational pathway toward human clinical application. Using geometric models derived from MRI scans conductivity values from the literature, we ran simulations in SCIRun and MATLAb to determine electric field strengths in the tumor areas. Using the results of these simulations, we identified electrode placements that maximized field strength while minimizing applied current. Using intracranially rather than transcranially placed electrodes offers multiple benefits including increased strength and duration in which the therapy is applied, a lower current, as well as other quality of life improvements.