Kaat Wille

The aim of the research is to optimize and personalize the treatment of patients suffering from liver cancer. Some of these patients, specifically patients with an unresectable form of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), are treated by transarterial radioembolization (TARE). TARE is a minimally invasive therapy in which radioactive microspheres are delivered through a microcatheter near the tumour into the liver’s blood vessels. This approach allows targeting of the tumour while sparing as much healthy liver tissue as possible. However, treatment outcomes may vary between patients, and uncertainties remain regarding the most optimal treatment parameters, such as catheter tip location and orientation, injection velocity, or catheter type.
The long-term goal would be to make these treatments more predictable and effective by developing a patient-specific pre-treatment planning platform. Within this project, I focus on modelling blood flow and microsphere transport in a digital model of the patient-specific hepatic arterial tree using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), while my colleague on the project focusses on Monte Carlo–based radiation dosimetry. Using CFD simulations, we will investigate how variations in treatment parameters influence the microsphere distribution, aiming to better understand their role in treatment variability. This will allow us to predict the dose distribution of a certain treatment and determine potentially a more optimal set of treatment parameters. This research contributes to the broader field of cancer research by laying the foundations for a digital tool for personalized pre-treatment planning. This approach could ultimately support clinicians in selecting the most effective and safest treatment parameters for each patient beforehand, improving therapeutic outcomes and reducing complications.
 

I received the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering in 2025 at UGhent. In September 2025, I started a PhD at the BioMMedA research group (UGhent, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, part of IBiTech), focusing on optimization and personalization of a certain liver cancer treatment through computational fluid modelling. The PhD project I work on is a joint project, where I focus on predicting microsphere distributions during transarterial radioembolizations in the liver, while my colleague focuses on the radiation dosimetry aspect. 
 

• Lab address: IBiTech-BioMMedA, Department of Electronics and Information Systems (Ghent University), campus UZ Gent, C. Heymanslaan 10, entrance 97, 2nd floor, 9000 Gent, Belgium
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• Kaat Wille is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks