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SUMMARY:Prostate: Small Organ\, Big Problems—informing clinical decision
 s with computational models - Hector Gomez (Purdue University)
DTSTART:20250919T123000Z
DTEND:20250919T133000Z
UID:TALK235213@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:Despite its small size and supporting role in the male genitou
 rinary system the prostate is the site of two major pathologies in older m
 en: prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This tal
 k will describe three recent examples showing how computational models inf
 ormed by patient-specific data can play a critical role in clinical decisi
 on making: The first example illustrates how computational modeling can he
 lp improve decision making in active surveillance (AS)\, an emerging clini
 cal strategy for PCa patients with low to intermediate risk that aims at r
 educing overtreatment by delaying therapy. However\, current AS protocols 
 have limitations\, including delayed detection of tumor progression and la
 ck of personalization. To overcome these issues\, we propose a patient-spe
 cific computational model that utilizes longitudinal imaging data. Results
  using data from a small cohort of patients indicate that the model predic
 ts tumor kinetics accurately and has the potential to improve the effectiv
 eness of AS by providing personalized monitoring. The second example illus
 trates how a computational model can help identify PCa relapse after radia
 tion therapy. Our model\, tested on a cohort of approximately 150 patients
 \, identified relapse a median of 14.8 months earlier than standard practi
 ce\, providing clinicians more time to begin life-sustaining secondary tre
 atments in cases of relapse. In the third example\, I will describe how ou
 r model led to an innovative hypothesis to explain an unsolved medical deb
 ate: why larger prostates tend to harbor less aggressive tumors.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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