George Starkschall, Ph.D.
1972, Harvard University
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Radiation Physics
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George Starkschall, Ph.D. 1972, Harvard University The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
Research Interests:
My major research interests are presently in respiratory-correlated radiation therapy. We are working on methods for the CT imaging respiratory-induced tumor motion in the lungs and esophagus and developing methods for accounting for this motion in the planning of radiation treatments. In order to image respiratory motion using CT we take advantage of the fact that respiratory motion is periodic, acquire small amounts of image data at corresponding phases in multiple respiratory cycles, and combine this data to generate the time-dependent CT image data set. We are presently developing methods for determining the effects of irregularities in the respiratory cycle and accounting for these effects in the generation of these CT data sets. In order to plan for respiratory motion in radiation treatments we use techniques of deformable image registration to deform dose distributions calculated on one phase of a data set to the dose grid on other phases, and combine this information to generate the so-called "four-dimensional" dose distribution.
Selected Publications:
Chang JY, Liu H, Liao Z, Starkschall G, Balter P, Mohan R, Cox JD, Komaki R (2/2008) Image-guided radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 3(2):177-186.
Ezhil M, Starkschall G, Mohan R, Cox J, Komaki R (7/2008) Validation of a model-based segmentation approach to propagating normal anatoic regions of interest through the 10 phases of respiration. International Jouranl of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 71(3):900-906.
Ezhil M, Choi B, Starkschall G, Bucci MK, Vedam S, Balter P (2008) Comparison of rigid and adaptive methods of propagating gross tumor volume through respiratory phases of four-dimensional computed tomography image data set. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 71(1):290-296.
Kuban D, Tucker S, Dong L, Starkschall G, Huang E, Cheung R, Lee A, Pollack A (2008) Long-term results of the M. D. Anderson randomized dose-escalation trial for prostate cancer. International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics 70(1):67-74.
Program Affiliations: