Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) is a key treatment option for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary form of liver cancer. TARE is a minimally invasive therapy in which radioactive microspheres are delivered through a microcatheter near the tumour into the liver's blood vessels. Although TARE can significantly improve survival, treatment outcomes remain variable and difficult to predict, mainly because of complex liver vasculature and unpredictable distribution of radioactive microspheres due to uncertain parameters such as catheter tip location, catheter orientation, and injection velocity.
The long-term goal would be to make these treatments more predictable and effective by developing a patient-specific pre-treatment planning platform. Blood flow and microsphere transport will be modelled in a digital model of the patient-specific hepatic arterial tree (based on clinical imaging) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), in combination with Monte Carlo-based radiation dosimetry. Using CFD simulations, we will investigate how variations in treatment parameters influence the microsphere distribution, aiming to better understand their role in treatment variability. This will allow us to predict the dose distribution of a certain treatment and determine potentially a more optimal set of treatment parameters. This research contributes to the broader field of cancer research by laying the foundations for a digital tool for personalized pre-treatment planning. The insights gained could support interventional radiologists in optimizing treatment planning, improving tumor targeting, and minimizing radiation exposure to healthy liver tissue in future TARE procedures.
Subjects radiologically diagnosed with HCC, eligible for or undergoing treatment.
Subjects who are treated (or will be treated) using TARE with radioactive microspheres.
Subjects for whom pre-treatment medical imaging of the hepatic arterial vasculature was performed for TARE planning (e.g., CT, MRI, PET, SPECT, and DSA), which can be used to develop patient-specific 3D models of the hepatic arterial tree and treatment dose distribution.
Subjects undergoing TARE procedures without adequate medical imaging of the hepatic vasculature.
Subjects in whom no pre- or post-treatment imaging data are available for analysis.
Subjects diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma who have underwent or will undergo TARE of the liver.
Cohort
Other
Endovascular treatment
DeviceEndovascular treatment
Accuracy and validation of CFD models
Correlation coefficient between CFD-predicted and measured blood flow velocity, pressure distribution and particle distribution in an in vitro set-up
Identification of important procedure parameters
Identification of key procedure parameters (e.g., catheter location, catheter direction, injection velocity) using the computational framework.
Uncertainty on dose to tumor/healthy tissue
Quantifying the uncertainty on the calculated dose inside the patient due to the variation of the system parameters.
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University Hospital, Ghent
Lead sponsor
University Ghent
Collaborator
