AIR Option 1: Technology Translation - A Portable Treatment Planning System for MR-Guided Thermal Therapy

这个PFI: AIR技术翻译项目的重点是翻译高性能的生物传热数学模型，以可靠和准确地预测和可视化激光诱导热治疗的结果。微创激光消融是一种医疗程序，它提供了一种快速将热量传递到体内病变组织的手段，将在这个项目中用于杀死大脑中的局灶性癌症病变以及病变的神经组织，如癫痫。翻译后的计算技术具有以下独特的特点：(1)原型设备的预测能力将有助于最大限度地减少手术对患者的影响；(2)原型设备将与现有的FDA批准的人类程序紧密结合，并经过严格验证，以确保准确的预测。由于目前没有类似的技术存在，神经外科医生没有能力先验地可视化基本解剖结构附近复杂治疗方案（多个激光/轨迹）的结果，因此这提供了手术效果的示范性改进。该项目通过利用混合多核和GPU计算架构，结合复杂的数学算法，实现了这一目标，从而产生了便携式、高度并行的医学图像驱动原型仿真设备。该合作伙伴关系涉及工业界（BioTex Inc.）和学术中心（Rice University和MD Anderson），为这一微创神经外科市场空间提供指导，并将技术商业化和验证，因为它们具有将高性能计算技术转化为可能导致竞争性商业现实的潜力。预计潜在的经济影响将提高美国每年超过20万例脑肿瘤病例和超过100万例癫痫病例的治疗效果。在5年的时间框架内，这将有助于美国在这一微创神经外科市场领域的竞争力。长期的社会影响将为提高计算机辅助图像引导治疗的安全性和有效性提供新的计算和数学工具，用于这一重要的医学应用。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating high performance mathematical models of bioheat transfer for reliably and accurately predicting and visualizing the outcome of laser induced thermal therapy. Minimally-invasive laser ablation is a medical procedure that provides a means of rapidly delivering heat to target diseased tissue in the body and will be used in this project to kill focal cancerous lesions in brain as well as diseased neurological tissue, such as epilepsy. The translated computing technology has the following unique features: (1) the predictive capabilities of the prototype device will assist in minimizing the surgical impact on the patient and (2) the prototype device will be tightly coupled to existing FDA approved procedures in humans and rigorously validated to assure accurate predictions. This provides exemplary improvement in the efficacy of the procedure as no comparable technology currently exists and the neurosurgeon does not have the capability to a-priori visualize outcomes for complex treatment scenarios (multiple lasers/trajectories) near essential anatomical structures. The project accomplishes this goal by utilizing hybrid multi-core and GPU computing architectures combined with sophisticated mathematical algorithms resulting in a portable, aggressively parallel, medical image driven prototype simulation device. The partnership engages industry (BioTex Inc.) and academic centers (Rice University and MD Anderson) to provide guidance in this minimally invasive neurosurgical market space as well as to commercialize and validate the technology as they pertain to the potential to translate the high performance computing technology along a path that may result in a competitive commercial reality. The potential economic impact is expected to improve treatment effectiveness within the yearly greater than 200,000 brain tumor cases and greater than 1 million epilepsy cases in the U.S. Within a 5-yr timeframe, this will contribute to the U.S. competitiveness in this minimally invasive neurosurgical market space. The societal impact, long term, will provide novel computational and mathematical tools for improving the safety and efficacy of computer assisted image guided therapy for this important medical application.