Defense Date

3-24-2021

Graduation Date

Spring 5-7-2021

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

thesis

Degree Name

MS

Department

Biomedical Engineering

School

Rangos School of Health Sciences

Committee Chair

John Viator

Committee Member

Melikhan Tanyeri

Committee Member

John Kern

Keywords

Melanoma, Photoacoustics, Detection, Cancer, Disease-State, Flow Cytometry

Abstract

Approximately 1 in 50 Americans develop melanoma in their lifetime. Early detection of melanoma is pivotal to the survival of the patient, with a 99% survival rate for 5 or more years after an early diagnosis. Metastasis, or the spread of cancer, increases the chances of cancerous growth in other parts of the body. In this study, we propose the use of photoacoustic flow cytometry as a diagnostic of patient disease state, by closely monitoring the amount of circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) in a patient’s blood before and after chemotherapy treatments. Using this patient data, we were able to make conclusions regarding the progression of cancer in each of the patients. In the future, we hope to use this real time diagnostic as insight to the effectiveness of a patient’s treatment and ideally sculpting a more effective patient- by- patient treatment regimen.

Language

English

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