Nichole Maughan, PhD, a Washington University medical physics resident, has placed first in the James S. Sample Young Investigator Symposium at the 2018 Spring Meeting of the Missouri River Valley chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). This year’s symposium took place on April 28 in Kansas City, MO.
Dr. Maughan’s abstract, “Post-Radioembolization PET/MRI of 90Y Microspheres as a Predictor of Clinical Outcomes and Tool to Guide Salvage Therapy,” discusses recent research into a type of internally delivered radiation therapy that uses tiny spheres coated with radioactive Yttrium-90 (90Y) to treat liver tumors. The study looked at PET/MRI scans of patients undergoing this treatment in order to predict how tumors would respond to the therapy. The results are also being used to guide a clinical trial investigating when patients could be helped by additional therapies to account for potential underdosing from this 90Y therapy.
Dr. Maughan completed her graduate work in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiation Oncology at Washington University, and is currently a resident in medical physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology, which provides radiation therapy services to patients of Siteman Cancer Center.