The University of Florida Informatics Institute and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) have awarded pilot program funding to University of Florida researchers.
 
CTSI provides intramural awards to support the growth of interdisciplinary and investigator-initiated clinical and translational research across UF’s broad range of scientific disciplines.
 
Dr. Ruogu Fang, BME assistant professor, is the Principal Investigator in the multidisciplinary pilot project for precision medicine. She is collaborating with the UF Health Neurovascular Program in the Departments of Radiology and Neurosurgery to collect clinical data from acute ischemic stroke patients that undergo comprehensive brain imaging for diagnosis and therapeutic planning.
 
The goal of this project is to understand the interplay between personalized organ doses and multimodal imaging to develop precision dose optimization schemes in the diagnostic neuroimaging.

Compared to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with contraindications and limited accessibility, computed tomography (CT)-based comprehensive brain imaging, with its almost ubiquitous availability, fast acquisition, 24/7 accessibility, and low cost, has shown promising results for time-dependent therapies such as acute stroke and intracranial hemorrhage. However, multimodal CT imaging is associated with high accumulative ionizing radiation that can lead to skin burns, hair loss, cataract formation, and increased cancer risk. While radiation dose reduction has been studied for the general population, personalized radiation optimization in multimodality brain imaging has not been previously explored.
 
Fang’s central hypothesis is that radiation optimization schemes guided by precise dose assessment in multimodal imaging can offer substantial radiation dose reduction, alleviating the unwanted secondary cancer risks following diagnostic imaging.
 
This will be the first attempt to integrate personalized dosimetry with diagnostic quality of multimodal imaging, and will significantly expand our understanding of the personalized organ sub-structure dose optimization.
 
This optimization will allow individualized imaging protocols for each patient and disorder. Direct access to clinical imaging data and the significance of this work make this area of research one of the most promising areas in neuroradiology of the present. This project has the potential to shift research and clinical practices in routine CT scans towards a more patient-oriented and personalized approach.
 
Co-PI:
•    Dr. Keith R. Peters, associate professor, Department of Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine
Mentors:
•    Dr. Welsey Bolch, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida
•    Dr. David Vaillancourt, professor, Department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology, University of Florida