# Developing Automated tools for Cervical Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment for Zambian Women living with HIV (Biospecimen/Cohort)

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2024 · $231,771

## Abstract

Project Summary
The long-term goal of this research is to improve the management of cervical cancer across the lifespan for
women living with HIV (WLH). The purpose of this proposal is to determine how cervical cancer treatment
planning techniques can be adapted and automated for WLH to include bone marrow sparing and treatment of
pelvic nodes—both which are valuable considerations for clinics with limited resources where the incidence of
cervical cancer and HIV are high. The hypothesis is that at least 90% automated treatment plans created for
WLH that include nodal boosting and bone marrow sparring are clinically acceptable. The first specific aim will
be a retrospective planning study where automated methods for bone marrow sparing are validated on an
existing biocohort dataset from Zambia. Ionizing radiation dose to marrow containing structures and adjacent
organs will be studied and associated with number and location of enlarged nodes that are boosted to a high
radiation dose using the adapted technique. The second specific aim will develop and validate deep learning
models to autocontour enlarged nodes (from HIV-reactive adenopathy and malignancy). Differences in the
sensitivity and accuracy of autocontouring between cohorts of WLH and women without HIV will be reported.
The outcomes from this research will be a comprehensive understanding of how treatment planning techniques
can be adapted for WLH that receive cervical radiotherapy. In addition, a suite of tools specifically designed for
these scenarios described above will be integrated into a deployable FDA approved platform to increase
access to this treatment adaptation for WLH and allow for future clinical studies of hematological toxicity and
outcome for WLH.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11067476
- **Project number:** 3P30CA016672-48S4
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Giulio Francesco Draetta
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $231,771
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1996-08-28 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11067476

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11067476, Developing Automated tools for Cervical Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment for Zambian Women living with HIV (Biospecimen/Cohort) (3P30CA016672-48S4). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11067476. Licensed CC0.

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