Department of Radiation Oncology Posters

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  Anatomically Accurate, Low-Cost 3D-Printed Nasopharynx Simulator for Nasolaryngoscopy Training

  Tal Sherman, Robert Walker, Voichita Bar-Ad, and Firas Mourtada

  Introduction

  - Flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy (NPL) is a core diagnostic and procedural skill in otolaryngology, radiation oncology, and related specialties. Early mastery is essential for safe patient care, but traditional training is limited by:

  • Reliance on patient encounters, which may cause discomfort and restrict practice opportunities.
  • High cost of commercial simulators(often $3,000–$5,000), restricting access across many programs.
  • Lack of anatomical accuracyin available models, limiting their educational value.

  - Gap: There is currently no accessible, anatomically faithful, and affordable tool for widespread trainee use.

  - Objective: To design, fabricate, and validate a low-cost, anatomically accurate 3D-printed simulator for training in flexible NPL

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  Clinical Outcomes of Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy vs. Chemoradiotherapy in Operable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

  Tal Sherman; Nikta Nair; Marli Meller; Raleigh Anderson; Guillermo Jimenez; Elizaveta Flevora; Charalambos Solomides; Rita Axelrod; Sarah Gordon; Ida Micaily; Maria Werner-Wasik; Sung Whang; Tyler Grenda; Olugbenga Okusanya; Nathaniel R. Evans, III; Nilanjan Haldar; and Erik Blomain

  Introduction

  • Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ~85% of lung cancers and remains the leading cause of cancer death.
  • Surgery is curative for early-stage disease, but recurrence rates remain high.
  • CheckMate-816 trial established neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy (chemo-IO) as a new standard for resectable NSCLC, demonstrating improved pathologic response and event-free survival.
  • PACIFIC trial showed the survival benefit of consolidative immunotherapy after chemoradiotherapy (chemo-RT) in unresectable stage III NSCLC, highlighting the synergy between radiation and immune checkpoint blockade.
  • Despite these advances, there is little comparative data on the role of chemo-IO versus chemo-RT in the neoadjuvant, operable setting.
  • Objective: To compare clinical outcomes between patients treated with neoadjuvant chemo-IO and those treated with chemo-RT prior to surgery at a single institution.

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  Can Low-Dose Radiation Therapy (LD-RT) Aid in Chronic Subdural Hematoma (cSDH) Management? Literature Review and Proposed Clinical Trial Design

  Ryan Shah, BS; Nilanjan Haldar, MD; Debanjan Haldar, MD; Keenan Piper, MD; Wenyin Shi, MD, PhD; and Pascal Jabbour, MD

  Introduction + Methods

  • Chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) is a common neurosurgical condition, complicated by high rates of hematoma recurrence.
  • There is growing interest in less invasive management options for primary and adjunctive treatment, such as middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE).
  • Low-dose radiation therapy (LD-RT) is an emerging noninvasive treatment for a range of inflammatory conditions, raising the question of whether LD-RT could benefit cSDH patients.
  • Literature review was conducted to describe cSDH pathophysiology, the therapeutic mechanisms of LD-RT, and any clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of LD-RT for cSDH.
  • Based on these findings, a randomized controlled trial design and LD-RT regimen were proposed to evaluate safety and efficacy.

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  Integrating Ki-67 and Treatment Strategies to Guide Prognosis in High-Grade Meningiomas: A Multivariable Analysis of Prognostic Factors in WHO Grade II/III Meningiomas

  Anthony Chen; Aneesh Reddy; Toren Ikea-Mario; Shray Jain; Zhenghao Xiao; Nilanjan Haldar, MD; James J. Evans, MD; and Wenyin Shi, MD, PhD

  Introduction

  • High-grade meningiomas (WHO Grade II/III) are associated with high recurrence rates and poor survival despite aggressive therapy
  • Adjuvant radiotherapy’s (RT) benefit after gross total resection (GTR) remains uncertain and histopathologic markers such as Ki-67 may further refine risk stratification and inform postoperative management
  • AIM: to identify the role of RT and clinicopathologic predictors of local failure-free survival (LFFS) and overall survival (OS) in high-grade meningiomas

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  Calibration of a Novel Microdosimetry System for In Vitro Applications of Actinide Radiopharmaceuticals

  Lydia J. Wilson, Brian Miller, George Tabatadze, and Firas Mourtada

  Background

  • Alpha-emitting radionuclides show promise for targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy (TRT).
  • High linear energy transfer and short range cause highly localized DNA damage for effective cancer cell eradication.
  • However, distributions of radioactivity and absorbed dose on the cellular scale remain elusive.
  • Progress toward understanding α-TRT radiobiologic response, evaluating novel α-TRT drug efficacy, and optimizing administration for personalized treatments will require knowledge of radioactivity and absorbed dose distributions.
  • A novel real-time α camera, the ionizing radiation quantum imaging detector (iQID), has successfully mapped the microdistribution of α-emitting radionuclides in mouse and human tissues [1].

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  Organ-Specific Dosimetry Following Radiopharmaceutical Therapy for Metastatic Prostate Cancer

  Frank J. Arturi; Nilanjan Haldar; Shray Jain; Gia Nguyen; Jessie Dinome; Firas Mourtada; and Lydia J. Wilson, PhD

  Introduction

  • Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) uses radioactive agents to target cancer at the cellular level
  • Lu-177 targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), known as 177Lu- PSMA-617, can be used to treat metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)
  • 177Lu-PSMA-617 treatments use a standard dose and treatment regimen for all patients
  • Patients exhibit different side effects and tumor response during treatment

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  Results of a Prospective Trial to Evaluate Novel Lung Function Imaging for Lung Cancer Surgery

  Lydia J. Wilson, PhD; Richard Castillo, PhD; Edward Castillo, PhD; Bernard Jones, PhD; Moyed Miften, PhD; Lindsey Olsen, PhD; Vikas Aragam, PhD; Robert A. Meguid, MD, MPH; Crystal J. Erickson, MD; Amanda Young, MSN; Matthew Blum, MD; Tyler Grenda, MD; Julie Barta, MD; Benjamin Leiby, PhD; Timothy Waxweiler, MD; Brian Kavanagh, MD, MPH; John D. Mitchell, MD; and Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, PhD

  Background

  • Surgery is the primary form of definitive treatment for early-stage lung cancer.
  • Poor lung function before surgery places patients at high risk of pulmonary complications after resection.
  • Surgeons evaluate patient fitness for surgery using pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to calculate the predicted postoperative PFT (ppoPFT).
  • Conventional ppoPFT calculations assume homogeneous lung function, which can be inaccurate.
  • 4DCT-ventilation is a novel lung function imaging modality developed in radiation oncology that uses 4DCT data to calculate high-resolution ventilation maps.

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  Inducing Accelerated Lung Toxicity in Mice Using a Partial Arc SBRT Technique

  Andrew Gerry, Charita Kunta, Noelle Francois, Tiziana DeAngelis, Anuradha Shastri, Nicole Simone, and Reza Taleei

  Background

  • Radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis (RIPF) is a frequent outcome of thoracic radiation therapy, constraining safe tumor radiation dosage. Various animal models, such as mice, rats, and pigs, have been devised to study RIPF
  • Current methods for inducing lung fibrosis in mice involve whole lung irradiation with doses between 2-20 Gy. These methods used fixed anterior and posterior (AP/PA) x-ray beams at 0º and 180º with analysis typically commencing 24 to 52 weeks post-radiation
  • Current methods are unrepresentative of modern radiation therapy techniques and are limited by the associated long latency of RIPF