In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

Valentina Simonetti

will defend her thesis

A Multiscale Model for Breast Conservative Therapy: Computational Framework and Clinical Validation

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide and affects 12% of all the women in the USA. There exist different surgical approaches in order to defeat this kind of cancer: the traditional mastectomy (Breast Removal Surgery) and the more recent Breast Conservative Therapy (BCT), whose goal is to preserve the breast contour and ameliorate the psycological impact of surgery on the patients. This work aims to exploit the BCT field developing a 3D patient-specific multiscale model that could simulate the breast shape after lumpectomy, from surgery to complete healing. This model consists of two parts: a hyperelastic Neo-Hookean Finite Element Model of the brest tissue and skin, and a Cellular Automata model that mimics the biology of healing after surgery. The resulting multiscale model gives as outcome the breast contour after surgery. This work is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between surgeons, mathematicians and computer scientists. A clinical protocol that involves patients eligible for BCT was developed in order to validate this multiscale model with real clinical data. The results obtained show the performance of the model and the results obtained with the first patient who took part of the study.

Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Time: 3:30 PM
Place: PGH 550
Advisor: Prof. Marc Garbey

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.