Project 466999

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in females worldwide. Standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer is the combined use of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Radiation kills cancer cells by damaging their DNA. Brachytherapy, a type of radiation therapy used in the treatment of cervical cancer, delivers radiation internally to the body which allows a high dose of radiation to be directly applied to the tumours and a relatively low dose to other organs. The main goal of treatment is to improve survival and quality of life.Further improvements can be made by adapting dose to the specific properties of a patients tumour. Response to radiation therapy can vary between individual tumours based on the presence of oxygen. Hypoxic tumours (those lacking sufficient oxygen) are known to be more resistant to the effects of radiation. However, high doses of radiation can counteract this. In order to individualize care, we must be able to image these hypoxic regions. Two types of magnetic resonance imaging (diffusion-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced) have been linked to the identification of hypoxic regions.Here we aim to demonstrate the ability to image and identify these hypoxic regions at the time of treatment. Once successfully identified, we will evaluate the ability to increase radiation to these regions to counteract the effects of hypoxia. We will also design a new applicator with a high-resolution grid with the aim of more accurate dose delivery and compare its ability to accurately deliver high doses of radiation to hypoxic regions against that of a standard, commercially available brachytherapy applicator. Ultimately, we aim to improve survival and quality of life for cervical cancer patients.