Time 14:30; Location: Academiezaal Aula, Comeniuslaan 2, 6525 HP Nijmegen

Title

Towards clinical implementation of finite element based fracture risk prediction in femoral bone metastases

Thesis

Patients with cancer can develop bone metastases in the femur, which can be very painful and increase the risk of a fracture. Treatment of such metastases is based on the fracture risk: patients with a low fracture risk are treated conservatively with, for example, radiotherapy, whereas patients with a high fracture risk are considered for preventive stabilising surgery. Current clinical guidelines advise to estimate fracture risk by measuring the size of the metastases on radiographs or CT scans. However, using this method, some patients are unnecessarily operated on, and some patients still develop fractures. Patient-specific computer simulations, that calculate bone strength based on CT scans, were demonstrated to improve fracture risk assessments in a laboratory setting. In this thesis, the computer simulations were validated in patients with cancer and bone metastases. Additionally, the computer simulations were further developed for large-scale clinical implementation.

Biography

Florieke Eggermont graduated from Radboud University in 2013 (Master’s degree Biomedical Sciences). The research in this thesis was performed at the Orthopaedic Research Lab of Radboud university medical center, within the Radboud Institute for Health Sciences (RIHS). Currently, she works as a scientific researcher and lecturer at the Orthopaedic Research Lab.

This text is a copy from: ru.nl/english/news-agenda/agenda/phd-defences/@1231898/towards-clinical-implementation-finite-element