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Heating Things Up…While Keeping Our Cool!
STM Newsletter
May 2021
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Nominations
Calling all members: Help shape the future of the Society for Thermal Medicine!!!
It is the time of year for members to help update the STM leadership. A call for nominations will be sent to members soon. Please considering nominating yourself or your colleagues to serve the Society through participating in STM council activities.
STM is seeking:
- Vice-President with expertise in the Clinical track
- Secretary/ Treasurer in-Training
- Councilors (2 each) from the clinical, biological and physics/ engineering track
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Thanks to everyone that joined the
Society for Thermal Medicine
Virtual Symposium on
“Therapeutic Ultrasound in Oncology” on May 13th!
In case you could not make it, a recording of the event is now available to view for free by clicking HERE. Please share with your associates, students, and colleagues!
Upcoming virtual events include:
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July 21, 11am-12:30pm EDT:
Join the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the Society for Thermal Medicine for a unique and FREE webinar, entitled Laser Hyperthermia for CNS Disorders, that will emphasize the biologic rationale and current clinical role for hyperthermia. Hyperthermia technologies, and their use with other modalities, including radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, will be discussed. The role of hyperthermia in disrupting the blood-tumor barrier and/or blood-brain barrier will also be addressed. The webinar will include practical information both for basic scientists, such as modeling hyperthermia in cells and animal models, and for clinicians, such as surgical approaches to delivering hyperthermia and the rationale for combined modality
therapies.
Learning objectives:
• Participants will understand the biological and immunologic consequences of thermal therapy.
• Participants will develop competency on the hyperthermia in the management of patients with CNS tumors, including primary tumors, brain metastases, and radiation necrosis.
• Participants will learn about the latest developments in laser hyperthermia technology
Target audience
• Neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, biologists, and engineers
Registration is complimentary for STM members! Register HERE.
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ICHO occurs every four years and combines expertise from three partnering societies: the Asian Society of Hyperthermic Oncology (ASHO), the Society for Thermal Medicine (STM), and the European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology (ESHO).
Check out the scientific program which is now online and learn more about this year's sessions. A vast selection of topics related to Hyperthermic Oncology will be addressed in plenary lectures, scientific sessions, courses, industry sponsored symposia and many more educational formats.
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Membership - Support STM during this critical time
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Don’t let your STM membership lapse! Even though we are not having a virtual meeting until ICHO later this year, STM is planning webinars to spread our knowledge, develop new ideas, and engage with one another. Now is a critical time to show your support for STM and rebuild your connections.
Membership in The Society for Thermal Medicine is open to anyone interested in the study of thermal medicine.
Membership rights and privileges include:
- Participating in society elections
- Committee service
- Access to restricted “members-only” areas of the STM website
- Discount on ICHO 2021 registration fees
- Free registration to all STM webinars/mini-symposia
- A 30% discount on IJH article submission fees
- Complementary sponsorship of 2 junior investigators
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If you have suggestions for how we can better improve STM as we delve together into these new plans, please reach out, and let us know:
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STM has a new member's only jobs section on our website, for both industry and academic positions. Please note, in order to access the jobs page you must be signed in as an active STM member. Send any jobs wanted or job postings to stm@allenpress.com and we will add them to the website. Please contact us if you have any questions/concerns.
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International Journal of Hyperthermia Updates
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IJH is always interested in innovative ideas to increase the breadth of the journal and we strongly hope that the special issues venue will help in the expansion. We are open to additional Industry-Sponsored or Foundation sponsored Special Issues. Please let us know if you have an idea for one!
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Editors' awardees for 2021
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Editor in Chief’s comments
Each year, the Editors of the Journal examine papers that were nominated for The Editors’ Awards. These prestigious awards come with a cash prize (approximately $750) plus an award certificate and official recognition in the Journal for their scientific contribution. We had 29 nominations this year, which speaks to the continuing interest in publishing in the Journal.
This year, we selected Editors to review the manuscripts for the Editors’ Awards, based on the broad subjects of the papers. We asked Editors to consider novelty and impact as the main criteria to base their prioritization on. Scores from participating Editors were averaged to obtain the final ranking. Thanks to the following Editors, who gave of their time to provide us with assessments of the papers: Drs. Issels, Mauri, LeBlang, Rhim, Ziemlewicz, Wessalowski, Ghanouni, Cressman, Haemmerich, Stauffer, Diederich, Prakash, Kuroda, Repasky, Gaipl, and Horsman.
Any first or senior author who is less than 35 years of age at the time of the manuscript submission is eligible to nominate themselves for this award. This is done during the on-line manuscript submission process.
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Winner in Physics/Engineering
Daan Löke (Msc). Demonstration of treatment planning software for hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in a rat model, https://doi.org/10.1080/02656736.2020.1852324, Department of Radiation Oncology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Born and raised in Friesland in the northern part of the Netherlands, Daan Löke moved to Groningen to obtain his Bachelor degree in Physics in 2015 with a thesis titled ‘Correlation of MR image info with CT to improve the determination of proton stopping powers for proton therapy’ at the center of advanced radiation technology (KVI-CART) at the University of Groningen. Two years later he obtained his Master degree in theoretical physics with the focus on particle physics. His master thesis was entitled ‘The scalar spectrum of non-Abelian gauge theories below the conformal window’ on research performed at the van Swinderen Institute (VSI) for Particle Physics and Gravity at the University of Groningen. After his graduation, he returned to medical physics and was appointed a PhD position in the group of Hans Crezee and Petra Kok at the department of radiation oncology of the Amsterdam UMC/university of Amsterdam, working on the project ‘Development of patient specific treatment planning to enhance and optimize clinical effectiveness of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in colorectal cancer patients’. Together with Roxan Helderman, Daan aims to improve and optimize HIPEC treatments from a biological and from a physics perspective. His work focuses on the development and experimental validation of computational fluid dynamics-based simulations, explicitly mapping flow patterns in the peritoneal cavity of patients suffering from peritoneal metastasis of colorectal origin. Aim of the software is to optimize these flow patterns and improving thermal homogeneity during the treatment, maximizing the potential enhancement of the chemotherapy used. The paper published in the International Journal of Hyperthermia demonstrates the software in an anatomical rat model. Previous publications described the penetration of chemotherapy during HIPEC (Löke et al, Drug Delivery, 2020), the variation in the application of HIPEC (Helderman & Löke et al. Cancers, 2019), thermal validation of the software (Schooneveldt & Löke et al., Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, 2020) and the design of an experimental in vivo HIPEC-setup (Löke & Helderman et al., Cancers, 2020). For finalization of his PhD thesis Daan plans to extend the software toward the application in human patients, with the intention to improve treatments setups such that HIPEC treatments become more effective.
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Winner in Medicine
Ethan Shrinivasan. The intersection between immunotherapy and laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT): A multi-pronged future of neuro-oncology, https://doi.org/10.1080/02656736.2020.1746413, 4th Year Medical Student, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University School of Medicine
Ethan’s primary research interests are in neuro-oncology, immunotherapy, and minimally-invasive surgical techniques. He is originally from Michigan, where he attended the University of Michigan and received his Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry in 2013. After graduating college, he moved to Louisiana to work as a middle- and high-school math and science teacher in Tensas Parish and New Orleans. He matriculated to Duke University School of Medicine in 2017 and plans to apply for residency in neurological surgery. His primary research focus is aimed toward the development of novel adoptive cell therapies for primary and metastatic brain tumors based on the adaptation of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell platforms, along with projects on the evolution of minimally-invasive surgical techniques including laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT). Outside of his academic pursuits, he is involved in several student groups and has served as the president of his school neurosurgery interest group and American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) student chapter. He remains involved in local public education and volunteering projects, and enjoys wilderness backpacking, golf, and supporting University of Michigan athletics in his free time. His long-term career goals are centered on a surgical practice in neuro-oncology, with a research focus on translational immunotherapeutic projects to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical applications.
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Winner in Biology
Celia Marcondes, PhD. Macrophages and Brown Adipocytes cross-communicate to modulate a Thermogenic Program following Methamphetamine Exposure, https://doi.org/10.1080/02656736.2020.1849822, San Diego Biomedical Research Institute
Dr. Marcondes received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. During undergrad, was an intern at the Serology and Immunology Lab in The Adolfo Lutz Institute, Sao Paulo, and the Hospital Emilio Ribas, which is the largest infectious diseases hospital in Latin America. There, she was part of a team of developers led by Dr. Augusta Takeda (MD, PhD), producing anti-serum in large and small animals, and researching new immunodiagnosis methods for Neisseria meningitis, Haemophilus influenza, and, at that time, HTLV-III, later known as HIV. She also worked in immunodiagnosis development at the Salck Industria e Comercio de Produtos Biologicos Ltda., Sao Paulo Brazil, before deciding to go back to the academia and pursue a PhD in Immunology. Her thesis at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, supervised by Dr. Momtchilo Russo (MD, PhD), was in bone marrow changes and inflammation during Chagas' disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, with an emphasis on immunopathology. Her postdoc in the Department of Molecular Pathogenesis at the Skirball Institute, New York University, NY (under Dr. Juan Lafaille), and then in the Department of Neuropharmacology of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA (under Dr. Howard Fox), focused on the Immune System within the Central Nervous System (CNS), neuroimmune interactions and how neurotransmitters affect immunity, inflammation and leukocyte migration, especially in infections such as HIV. Her recent studies have focused on CNS dysfunctions associated with chronic HIV and the role of co-morbidities, such as drug abuse and aging, on aggravating neuro-immune pathogenesis. Dr. Marcondes also studies how drugs of abuse disturb core body temperature, and how immune cells modulate this effect. In 2011, she became Assistant Professor of Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences at The Scripps Research Institute, where she is currently Adjunct in the Department of Neuroscience. In 2017, she became Associate Professor at the San Diego Biomedical Research Institute (SDBRI) and Ballad Institute (San Diego). She is a member of the American Association of Immunology (AAI), Society for Neurosciences (SFN), and an active member of the Society of Neuroimmune Pharmacology (SNIP). Dr. Marcondes is a pioneer in methods of microglia and immune cell isolation from the brain, and an expert in experimental neuro-immune pathology models of neuroHIV. Dr. Marcondes has published in world-class peer-reviewed journals, and her work is internationally recognized. She serves as a reviewer in several journals and in numerous NIH study sections.
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Featured International Journal of Hyperthermia Articles
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Published on 26 April 2021, Views: 126
Abstract
Purpose
Magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatment of tumors uses inter-sonication delays to allow heat to dissipate from the skin and other near-field tissues. Despite inter-sonication delays, treatment of tumors close to the skin risks skin burns. This work has designed and evaluated an open-source, conformable, skin-cooling system for body MRgFUS treatments to reduce skin burns and enable ablation closer to the skin.
Methods
A MR-compatible skin cooling system is described that features a conformable skin-cooling pad assembly with feedback control allowing continuous flow and pressure maintenance during the procedure. System performance was evaluated with hydrophone, phantom and in vivo porcine studies. Sonications were performed 10 and 5 mm from the skin surface under both control and forced convective skin-cooling conditions. 3D MR temperature imaging was acquired in real time and the accumulated thermal dose volume was measured. Gross analysis of the skin post-sonication was further performed. Device conformability was demonstrated at several body locations.
Results
Hydrophone studies demonstrated no beam aberration, but a 5–12% reduction of the peak pressure due to the presence of the skin-cooling pad assembly in the acoustic near field. Phantom evaluation demonstrated there is no MR temperature imaging precision reduction or any other artifacts present due to the coolant flow during MRgFUS sonication. The porcine studies demonstrated skin burns were reduced in size or eliminated when compared to the control condition.
Conclusion
An open-source design of an MRgFUS active skin cooling system demonstrates device conformability with a reduction of skin burns while ablating superficial tissues.
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T. Rohan, T. Andrasina,T. Juza, P. Matkulcik , D. Červinka, I. Svobodova,V. Novotná, V. Bernard, V. Valek & S. Nahum Goldberg
Published 07 March 2021, Views: 32
Purpose
To demonstrate the feasibility of irreversible electroporation (IRE) for treating biliary metal stent occlusion in an experimental liver model.
Methods and materials
IRE was performed using an expandable tubular IRE-catheter placed in nitinol stents in the porcine liver. A 3-electrode IRE-catheter was connected to an IRE-generator and one hundred 100μs pulses of constant voltage (300, 650, 1000, and 1300 V) were applied. Stent occlusion was simulated by insertion of liver tissue both ex vivo (n = 94) and in vivo in 3 pigs (n = 14). Three scenarios of the relationship between the stent, electrodes, and inserted tissue (double contact, single contact, and stent mesh contact) were studied. Electric current was measured and resistance and power calculated. Pigs were sacrificed 72 h post-procedure. Harvested samples (14 experimental, 13 controls) underwent histopathological analysis.
Results
IRE application was feasible at 300 and 650 V for the single and double contact setup in both ex vivo and in vivo studies. Significant differences in calculated resistance between double contact and single contact settings were observed (ex-vivo p ˂ 0.0001, in-vivo p = 0.02; Mann–Whitney). A mild temperature increase of the surrounding liver parenchyma was noted with increasing voltage (0.9–5.9 °C for 300–1000 V). The extent of necrotic changes in experimental samples in vivo correlated with the measured electric current (r2 = 0.39, p = 0.01). No complications were observed during or after the in-vivo procedure.
Conclusion
Endoluminal IRE using an expandable tubular catheter in simulated metal stent occlusion is feasible. The relationship of active catheter electrodes to stent ingrowth tissue can be estimated based on resistance values.
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Published 22 April 2021, Views: 162
Abstract
Objectives
To explore the outcomes of CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and then develop an effective nomogram to predict the survival.
Methods
NSCLC patients treated with MWA were randomly allocated to either the training cohort or the validation cohort (3:1). The primary outcome measurement was overall survival (OS), whose predictors were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses in the training cohort. Then, a predictive nomogram was developed to predict the OS, with the predictive accuracy evaluated by C-statistic and receiver operating characteristic in both the training and validation cohorts.
Results
A total of 234 patients (training cohort: n = 176; validation cohort: n = 58) and 271 tumors with a median OS of 17.0 ± 12.2 months were included. The predictors selected into the nomogram included tumor diameter (hazard ratio [HR], 2.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37-3.30; p < 0.001), extrapulmonary metastases (HR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.06–2.95; p = 0.030), tumor stage (HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.07–1.79; p = 0.013), tumor type (HR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.48–2.72; p < 0.001) and post-MWA TKIs (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34–0.89; p < 0.001), based on the results of univariate and multivariate analyses. The C-statistic showed good predictive performance, with a C-statistic of 0.838 (95% CI, 0.779–0.897) internally and 0.808 (95% CI, 0.695–0.920) externally (training cohort and validation cohort, respectively).
Conclusions
The nomogram was effective in predicting the OS in NSCLC patients treated with MWA, and could be applied to identify patients who may benefit most from MWA and be helpful for clinical decision making.
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Special Article Highlight:
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International Journal of Hyperthermia highlighted articles are intended to alert readers to new scientific developments with research results in the form of research articles in the clinical, physical, and biological facets of thermal medicine. In addition I would like to highlight the following review article for IJH readers who may be unfamiliar with the technique and to help promote further research in the field. My choice for highlighting this article is due to the inclusion of one of my canine family members who was recently treated with histotripsy and had a fantastic outcome. I am grateful for our members working in the area of ultrasound technology for development of new techniques and implementation of impactful clinical trials.
Thank you, Nicole Levi
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Zhen Xu, Timothy L. Hall, Eli Vlaisavljevich & Fred T. Lee
https://doi.org/10.1080/02656736.2021.1905189
Published 07 April 2021, Views: 435
Abstract
Histotripsy is the first noninvasive, non-ionizing, and non-thermal ablation technology guided by real-time imaging. Using focused ultrasound delivered from outside the body, histotripsy mechanically destroys tissue through cavitation, rendering the target into acellular debris. The material in the histotripsy ablation zone is absorbed by the body within 1–2 months, leaving a minimal remnant scar. Histotripsy has also been shown to stimulate an immune response and induce abscopal effects in animal models, which may have positive implications for future cancer treatment. Histotripsy has been investigated for a wide range of applications in preclinical studies, including the treatment of cancer, neurological diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Three human clinical trials have been undertaken using histotripsy for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, liver cancer, and calcified valve stenosis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of histotripsy covering the origin, mechanism, bioeffects, parameters, instruments, and the latest results on preclinical and human studies.
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