PROJECT TITLE: AUTOMATIC TREATMENT PLANNING OF CERVICAL CANCER HIGH-DOSE RATE BRACHYTHERAPY FOR LOW-RESOURCE SETTINGS

宫颈癌是全球主要疾病，85%的癌症负担发生在低收入和中等收入国家(LMIC)。治疗的标准是外照射加高剂量率近距离放射治疗(HDRBT)。在治疗过程中增加近距离放射治疗可将总存活率提高12%，并减少局部复发。HDRBT治疗计划是一个复杂的过程。在低资源环境中的近距离放射治疗往往没有足够的人类专业知识来完成这项任务，限制了这种有效治疗形式的广泛使用，并严重影响了治疗结果。为了解决这一问题，UTSW剥离出来的VeloxAI与UTSW的临床专家合作提出了一期SBIR项目，以开发全球首个实现宫颈癌HDRBT全自动治疗规划的软件系统AutoBrachy。我们将追求两个具体目标：AIM1，开发自动分割工具并严格重构AutoBrachy，以规划商业化；AIM2，在包括LMIC在内的多个参与地点实施AutoBrachy，以评估其可行性和优点。我们项目的创新之处在于，它通过利用新的计算方法，在低资源环境下增强了宫颈癌的HDRBT。广泛的初步研究以及与互补的专门知识和资源的伙伴关系确保了交付能力。

Cervical cancer is a major disease globally and 85% of the cancer burden occurs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Standard of care is external-beam radiotherapy with high dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRBT). Adding brachytherapy to the treatment course improves overall survival by 12% and reduces local recurrence. HDRBT treatment planning is a complex process. Brachytherapy in low-resource settings often do not have adequate human expertise for this task, limiting the wide-spread use of this effective therapeutic form and significantly affecting treatment outcomes. Aiming at solving this problem, VeloxAI, a spin-off of UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), proposes a Phase-I SBIR project in collaboration with clinical experts at UTSW to develop AutoBrachy, the world first software system to realize fully automatic treatment planning of cervical cancer HDRBT. We will pursue two specific aims: Aim1, to develop automatic segmentation tools and rigorously refactor AutoBrachy to plan for commercialization; Aim2, to implement AutoBrachy at multiple participating sites, including those in LMICs, to evaluate its feasibility and merit. The innovation of our project is that it enhances HDRBT of cervical cancer in low-resource settings by utilizing novel computational approaches. Deliverability is ensured by extensive preliminary studies and the partnership with complementary expertise and resources.