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DTSTART:20230927T090000Z
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TRANSP:OPAQUE
LOCATION:ICFO Elements Room and online (Teams)
SUMMARY:ICFO | PABLO RICARDO FERNÁNDEZ ESTEBERENA
CLASS:PUBLIC
DESCRIPTION:Near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) techniques are
  capable of non-invasive measurement of microvascular hemodynamic paramete
 rs of deep tissues (&gt\;1 cm penetration). One important focus of the fie
 ld has been applications in oncology\, where the characterization of the t
 umor vasculature could play both a diagnostic and therapeutic role. This i
 s mainly because malignant tissue growth requires the co-option and genera
 tion of blood vessels to be supported. Microvessel density\, microvascular
  blood flow and hypoxia have been linked to the progression of the disease
 \, the likelihood of metastasis and patient survival\, and can thus guide 
 diagnosis\, treatment plans and prognosis.\nIn this thesis\, I have applie
 d DOS methodologies in two projects exploiting hemodynamic information for
  cancer management. The first one consists in the demonstration of a toolb
 ox for the optimization of plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) in mice\,
  while the second focuses on the contribution to the clinical diagnosis of
  thyroid cancer in nodule patients.\nPPTT uses plasmonic nanoparticles (NP
 s) that are injected into the body and act as localized sources of heat up
 on external illumination to induce tumor cell death. Various aspects of th
 e therapy are modulated by the optical and hemodynamic parameters of tumor
  tissue and can thus be studied with DOS monitoring. Moreover\, it enables
  simultaneous quantification of NP concentration. Such information can imp
 rove the understanding and the outcome of the treatment and accelerate its
  slow progress to the clinics.\nTo prove this\, we conducted experiments u
 sing DOS monitoring along PPTT to model the therapy steps and explain the 
 variability among individuals. This was done on patient-derived orthotopic
  renal cell carcinoma models\, injected with gold nanorods and treated wit
 h fixed conditions. The hybrid device combined continuous-wave broadband d
 iffuse reflectance (DRS) and diffuse correlation (DCS) spectroscopies. The
  data was related to the NP accumulation\, the temperatures reached during
  treatment\, tumor growth and animal survival. Moreover\, we analyzed the 
 underlying mechanisms with simulations and demonstrated the extrapolation 
 of therapy conditions for individual mice. With this\, we managed to deter
 mine the relevant interactions and prognostic factors to guide the persona
 lization of the therapy in a way that could be readily applied to other PP
 TT protocols.\nThe second study was part of the LUCA project\, which aimed
  at implementing an ultrasound-guided hybrid DOS device that could be inte
 grated into the clinical workflow of thyroid cancer screening and provide 
 relevant hemodynamic information to improve diagnostic capabilities. The i
 ncidence of thyroid cancer has been on the rise for decades and the low sp
 ecificity of standard screening methods implies tens of thousands of unnec
 essary thyroid extraction surgeries are carried out each year just in Euro
 pe. Therefore\, any improvement in the discrimination between benign and m
 alignant nodules can have a relevant impact on the large scale.\nA clinica
 l campaign was carried out with the LUCA device\, a state-of-the-art devic
 e combining time-resolved spectroscopy (TRS) and DCS around a regular ultr
 asound transducer. The properties of thyroid\, nodules and neck muscles we
 re measured in nodule patients and healthy volunteers. Data from sixty-six
  subjects allowed to characterize these tissues\, study the effect of demo
 graphic and anatomical variables and assess their diagnostic capabilities.
  In this way\, we gathered a large reference data set relevant to various 
 medical applications beyond oncology and identified the most promising ind
 icators of malignancy.\nWith these studies I have shown how the informatio
 n obtained with DOS has important roles in these particular applications a
 nd what are some of the mechanisms behind them. These results can guide th
 e future steps of research endeavors and have implications for the advance
 ment of solutions to these clinical problems.\n&nbsp\;\nThesis Director: P
 rof Dr. Turgut Durduran 
DTSTAMP:20260405T123120Z
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