Department of Computer Science at UH

University of Houston

Department of Computer Science

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

Mustafa Sherazi

Will defend his thesis


Virtual Surgery Trainer for Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization of Brain Tumor Growth

Abstract

One of the rapidly developing fields in the study of gliomas is tumor growth modeling. Scientists have proposed several mathematical models predicting the gliomas cancer growth. The purpose of applying mathematical theory to model tumor growth is to assist surgeons to predict the growth and treatment of cancer. These models have shown potential benefits but existing mathematical models have limitations. Not all models are accurate tumor growth predictors. All current surgical methods require opening of the skull for resection. Methods available to a surgeon to predict the location and size of the tumor are multimodality medical images. Sometimes these imaging modalities are not accurate enough to determine the characteristics and position of the tumor. In such cases, computer simulations of gliomas mathematical models play a major role in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of tumor growth. Several existing simulators were successfully validated against patient specific clinical data. We propose an integrated user friendly touch screen User Interface (UI) simulator whose input are medical images, that selects a mathematical model and its parameters, and simulates and visualizes gliomas tumor growth using the computer graphics (GPU) and OpenGL. The goal is to give an understanding and estimation of growth of brain tumors with virtual sugery.

 

Date: Monday, April 23, 2012
Time: 7:30 PM
Place: 200-PGH

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.
Advisor: Dr. Victoria Hilford