Course Report

In-room MRI-guided radiotherapy- PDF Version

8 October - 11 November 2020, online

Course directors

  • Uulke van der Heide, medical physicist, The Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Luca Boldrini, radiation oncologist, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, Rome, Italy

 

A medical physicist’s perspective

An increasing number of publications have appeared in recent years on radiotherapy that is guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): therefore I felt it was time to get some first-hand information from the experts in a course run by the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO). This year the course was online and kicked off in October. Pre-recorded lectures from the different experts were alternated with live question-and-answer sessions. The pre-recorded lectures could be watched in the viewer’s own time and they could be paused for the viewer to make notes. Although some of the lectures were divided according to tracks, this format gave me the opportunity to listen to the lectures that were outside my own track of medical physics. The lack of direct interaction with the lecturers was counterbalanced really well by the live sessions in which lots of questions were discussed. Unfortunately, due to privacy regulations, the details of the course participants could not be shared; this was a shame, since getting to know your peers and their practices is always one of the bonus points of attendance at an ESTRO course. All the lectures showed clearly the pitfalls and opportunities that were associated with this new technique. These were distinctly different from the advantages and disadvantages of computerised tomography, which can also be used as a guidance technique in radiotherapy. Also, I was surprised by the amount of training and the team work that were involved in the use of MRI-guided radiotherapy.  I’m looking forward to putting the experiences into practice!

Maaike-Milder.jpg

Dr Maaike Milder
Medical physicist
Erasmus MC,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
m.milder@erasmusmc.nl