“What’s really key about VeloSano is that it allows people to take their first steps from an idea to seeing a project come to fruition and get people moving forward with solving really big problems,” says Seth Rotz, MD.
Although radiation may cure kids of cancer, their life afterward may have complications that affect their health in other ways and their quality of life. Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a cancer that starts in the muscles and can occur in the head and neck, abdomen and genital areas. It typically affects children and teenagers.
As one can imagine, it is difficult to treat with radiation in these sensitive areas. When giving radiation to those places, it is not like an arm or rib. There are very sensitive structures in the skulls and pelvis that may be affected long term as kids mature.
Even though radiation therapy is quite precise nowadays, it can still affect areas that it shouldn’t. Seth Rotz, MD, is analyzing previous patient data by looking at radiation plans and comparing them to current surveillance images, like CT scans. He hopes to draw a connection as to improve therapy and intervene earlier when issues arise.
“Our project is aimed at understanding, in a very granular way, how sensitive each of these little bones and parts of the bones are to radiation,” says Dr. Rotz. “We want to find out what are the key areas to avoid, or reduce the doses for, so that as kids grow up, they are less likely to have disfigurement and other issues.”
Dr. Rotz’s goal is for healthcare providers to be able to come up with more sophisticated radiation plans to reduce toxicity for future generations of patients. It starts with conducting studies, like this one, that are funded by pilot programs.
“What’s really important about VeloSano is that it is providing pilot funding,” says Dr. Rotz. “This allows you to get things started so that you can go after big grants, which are not easy to come by. This puts you in a lot better position to get a grant to solve the problem you are trying to solve.”
100% For The Cure
