Sylvia Katina Plevritis | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | The Cooper Union Stanford University |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Chair of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University |
Sylvia Katina Plevritis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University.
Plevritis holds a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from The Cooper Union in 1985, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford in 1986, a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford in 1992, and an M.S. in Health Services Research in 1996. She was a NSF fellow for her pre-doctoral work and her dissertation was titled: "Resolution improvements for magnetic resonance spectroscopic images." After her post-doctoral research, she joined Stanford's Department of Radiology as an assistant professor. In 2013, she became a full professor in the department of Radiology and (by courtesy) Management, Science, and Engineering (MS&E). In 2019, she was appointed as professor and chair of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University.
Plevritis's primary research interests lie in population cancer screening outcomes and developing computational techniques to solve problems within the field of cancer systems biology. In 2006, she was the first to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of adding MRI to mammography for screening BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. [1]
In 2000, Plevritis led the NCI Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Network (CISNET) to understand the effects of screening and adjuvant therapy on breast cancer trends by molecular subtype [2] [3]
In 2004, Plevritis became the Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB) and the Director of the Cancer Systems Biology Scholars (CSBS), and the co-Section Chief of the Integrative Biomedical Imaging Informatics at Stanford (IBIIS). Her lab also focuses on developing computational tools to identify heterogeneous molecular features with the tumor microenvironment, such as SPADE, DRUGNEM, PhenoSTAMP, and REMI. [4] [5] [6]
Plevritis received the Distinguished Investigator for the Academy of Radiology Research and Inaugural Award for Basic Scientist of the Year in the Stanford Radiology Department. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).[ citation needed ]
Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease, there may be bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, or yellow skin.
Mammography is the process of using low-energy X-rays to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through detection of characteristic masses or microcalcifications.
Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BRCA1 gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. BRCA1 is a human tumor suppressor gene and is responsible for repairing DNA.
Invasive carcinoma of no special type, invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) or invasive ductal carcinoma, not otherwise specified (NOS) is a disease. For international audiences this article will use "invasive carcinoma NST" because it is the preferred term of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Phyllodes tumors, are a rare type of biphasic fibroepithelial mass that form from the periductal stromal and epithelial cells of the breast. They account for less than 1% of all breast neoplasms. They were previously termed cystosarcoma phyllodes, coined by Johannes Müller in 1838, before being renamed to phyllodes tumor by the World Health Organization in 2003. Phullon, which means 'leaf' in Greek, describes the unique papillary projections characteristic of phyllodes tumors on histology. Diagnosis is made via a core-needle biopsy and treatment is typically surgical resection with wide margins (>1 cm), due to their propensity to recur.
Prostate cancer screening is the screening process used to detect undiagnosed prostate cancer in men without signs or symptoms. When abnormal prostate tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat and cure, but it is unclear if early detection reduces mortality rates.
One alternative to mammography, breast MRI or contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has shown substantial progress in the detection of breast cancer.
Hereditary breast–ovarian cancer syndromes (HBOC) are cancer syndromes that produce higher than normal levels of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and additional cancers in genetically related families. It accounts for 90% of the hereditary cancers. The hereditary factors may be proven or suspected to cause the pattern of breast and ovarian cancer occurrences in the family. The name HBOC may be misleading because it implies that this genetic susceptibility to cancer is mainly in women. In reality, both sexes have the same rates of gene mutations and HBOC can predispose to other cancers including prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer. For this reason, the term "King syndrome" has recently come into use. The new name references Mary-Claire King who identified the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Risk factors for breast cancer may be divided into preventable and non-preventable. Their study belongs in the field of epidemiology. Breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, can result from multiple environmental and hereditary risk factors. The term environmental, as used by cancer researchers, means any risk factor that is not genetically inherited.
Breast cancer screening is the medical screening of asymptomatic, apparently healthy women for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis. The assumption is that early detection will improve outcomes. A number of screening tests have been employed, including clinical and self breast exams, mammography, genetic screening, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Molecular breast imaging (MBI), also known as scintimammography, is a type of breast imaging test that is used to detect cancer cells in breast tissue of individuals who have had abnormal mammograms, especially for those who have dense breast tissue, post-operative scar tissue or breast implants.
A BRCA mutation is a mutation in either of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are tumour suppressor genes. Hundreds of different types of mutations in these genes have been identified, some of which have been determined to be harmful, while others have no proven impact. Harmful mutations in these genes may produce a hereditary breast–ovarian cancer syndrome in affected persons. Only 5–10% of breast cancer cases in women are attributed to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, but the impact on women with the gene mutation is more profound. Women with harmful mutations in either BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a risk of breast cancer that is about five times the normal risk, and a risk of ovarian cancer that is about ten to thirty times normal. The risk of breast and ovarian cancer is higher for women with a high-risk BRCA1 mutation than with a BRCA2 mutation. Having a high-risk mutation does not guarantee that the woman will develop any type of cancer, or imply that any cancer that appears was actually caused by the mutation, rather than some other factor.
In medicine, breast imaging is a sub-speciality of diagnostic radiology that involves imaging of the breasts for screening or diagnostic purposes. There are various methods of breast imaging using a variety of technologies as described in detail below. Traditional screening and diagnostic mammography uses x-ray technology and has been the mainstay of breast imaging for many decades. Breast tomosynthesis is a relatively new digital x-ray mammography technique that produces multiple image slices of the breast similar to, but distinct from, computed tomography (CT). Xeromammography and galactography are somewhat outdated technologies that also use x-ray technology and are now used infrequently in the detection of breast cancer. Breast ultrasound is another technology employed in diagnosis and screening that can help differentiate between fluid filled and solid lesions, an important factor to determine if a lesion may be cancerous. Breast MRI is a technology typically reserved for high-risk patients and patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Lastly, scintimammography is used in a subgroup of patients who have abnormal mammograms or whose screening is not reliable on the basis of using traditional mammography or ultrasound.
Radiation exposure is a measure of the ionization of air due to ionizing radiation from photons. It is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air. As of 2007, "medical radiation exposure" was defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection as exposure incurred by people as part of their own medical or dental diagnosis or treatment; by persons, other than those occupationally exposed, knowingly, while voluntarily helping in the support and comfort of patients; and by volunteers in a programme of biomedical research involving their exposure. Common medical tests and treatments involving radiation include X-rays, CT scans, mammography, lung ventilation and perfusion scans, bone scans, cardiac perfusion scan, angiography, radiation therapy, and more. Each type of test carries its own amount of radiation exposure. There are two general categories of adverse health effects caused by radiation exposure: deterministic effects and stochastic effects. Deterministic effects are due to the killing/malfunction of cells following high doses; and stochastic effects involve either cancer development in exposed individuals caused by mutation of somatic cells, or heritable disease in their offspring from mutation of reproductive (germ) cells.
Eleanor D. Montague was an American radiologist and educator who established breast-conserving therapy in the United States and improved radiation therapy techniques. She became a member of the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Branimir Ivan "Brandy" Sikic is an American medical doctor and scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is an oncologist and cancer pharmacologist, and has served as a faculty member at Stanford University since 1979. His research spans basic, translational, and clinical research and investigates the mechanisms of drug resistance and the development of new anticancer therapies.
Fiona Jane Gilbert is a Scottish radiologist and academic.
Nola M. Hylton is an American oncologist who is Professor of Radiology and Director of the Breast Imaging Research Group at the University of California, San Francisco. She pioneered the usage of magnetic resonance imaging for the detection, diagnosis, and staging of breast cancer by using MRIs to locate tumors and characterize the surrounding tissue.
Dense breast tissue, also known as dense breasts, is a condition of the breasts where a higher proportion of the breasts are made up of glandular tissue and fibrous tissue than fatty tissue. Around 40–50% of women have dense breast tissue and one of the main medical components of the condition is that mammograms are unable to differentiate tumorous tissue from the surrounding dense tissue. This increases the risk of late diagnosis of breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue. Additionally, women with such tissue have a higher likelihood of developing breast cancer in general, though the reasons for this are poorly understood.
Breast and ovarian cancer does not necessarily imply that both cancers occur at the same time, but rather that getting one cancer would lead to the development of the other within a few years. Women with a history of breast cancer have a higher chance of developing ovarian cancer, vice versa.
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