Yuting Lin1, Jeon-Hor Chen1, 2, Wei-Chin Lin2, Peter T. Fwu1, Tzu-Ching Shih2, 3, Orhan Nalcioglu1, Min-Ying L. Su1
1Tu and Yuen Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, Department of Radiological Science, University of California, IRVINE, CA, United States; 2Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Hypothermic cooling via an endorectal balloon (ECB) has been shown to significantly reduce long term urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction in men after robotic radical prostatectomy. Currently, there is no treatment planning tool for ECB design to optimize the balloon temperature and application time to ensure effective nerve-sparing cooling. In this study, we established a simulation model to map the temperature distribution based on the MR images of each individual patient. This proof of principle study demonstrated that this simulation tool can potentially be used for MR-image guided treatment planning to achieve optimized ECB cooling for nerve sparing.