# Machine Learning and Radiomics Techniques for Analysis of Daily MRI in Glioblastoma Patients

> **NIH NIH F30** · UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2023 · $52,694

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain cancer worldwide. Novel treatment strategies are
urgently needed since glioblastoma is nearly universally fatal with a median overall survival of only 1.5-
2 years. A frustrating aspect of glioblastoma is that approximately half of all patients will have what
looks to be tumor growth on their post-treatment MRI, termed progression. Although, half of patients
with progression will turn out to have pseudoprogression, which is a not-fully understood phenomenon
believed to be edema and inflammation caused by the immune system and represents a good response
to treatment. In fact, patients with pseudoprogression tend to do better than the general glioblastoma
population and have a median overall survival of up to 3 years. On the other hand, patients with true
progression of disease (tumor growth and poor/nonresponse to treatment) tend to do worse than the
general glioblastoma population and have a medial overall survival of only 10 months. The frustrating
part for clinical team, and the patients themselves, is that true progression and pseudoprogression are
not discernable from one another during treatment, or even on initial post-treatment imaging (1-month
post-treatment). Instead, the current gold-standard to distinguish between true and pseudoprogression
is to “watch and wait” – continue monitoring with serial imaging and see if the patient clinically worsens
or stabilizes. Thus, there is an unmet need for techniques that reliably and accurately determine if tumor
growth/progression is occurring during treatment and predict/determine which sub-type of progression
(true progression or pseudoprogression) a patient has. My laboratory focuses on responding to this
unmet need through a variety of methods: serial multiparametric MRI (anatomic, perfusion, diffusion,
spectroscopic, etc.), quantitative MRI analysis, machine learning, and molecular research including
analyzing blood samples of glioblastoma patients to look for circulating tumor cells and other molecular
markers. This proposal focuses on auto-detection of tumors on MRI based on machine learning (Aim
1) and analysis of anatomic and physiologic changes (Aim 2) from daily multiparametric MRI to address
this issue by creating techniques that can detect enlarging tumors during treatment and predict between
true and pseudoprogression months earlier than current methods. The goal of this proposal is to develop
tools that identify and monitor patients with significant anatomic and/or physiologic tumor changes much
earlier than current methods, so that in the future, prompt, aggressive, and early therapy adaption can
be implemented. This project will translate directly to the practice of clinical medicine and advance the
field of glioblastoma treatment. Additionally, it will allow me to gain hands-on skills and expertise in
machine learning, radiomics, MRI, neuroimaging, neuro-anatomy, radiation therapy, and oncology, and
aid in preparing me...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10751672
- **Project number:** 1F30CA278357-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Kaylie Cullison
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $52,694
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10751672

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10751672, Machine Learning and Radiomics Techniques for Analysis of Daily MRI in Glioblastoma Patients (1F30CA278357-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10751672. Licensed CC0.

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