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ESTRO 2024 Pre-meeting courses

Re-irradiation – a one-day bootcamp

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 from 08:30-17:00

Course directors:

  • Ane Appelt, Medical Physicist, University of Leeds & St James’s University Hospital (UK)
  • Eliana Maria Vasquez Osorio, Senior Researcher, The University of Manchester (UK)
  • Heidi Rønde, Medical Physicist, Danish Center for Particle Therapy, Aarhus University Hospital (DK)

Course aim:

Re-irradiation is seeing increasing use in clinical practice, and is becoming part of standard care for many patient groups. However, re-irradiation in most clinics is still more art than science. This course will provide a broad introduction to the considerable challenges surrounding the use of re-irradiation; including identifying patients who are candidates for re-irradiation, dose constraints for normal tissue, tissue recovery factors, practical clinical workflows, image registration & dose accumulation, treatment planning, etc. We will focus on broader questions, with limited time spent on a selected tumour sites.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course participants should:

  • Be able to define and classify re-irradiation
  • Understand the challenges involved in delivering re-irradiation, including the main clinical areas of concern and current international patterns of care
  • Be able to perform dose accumulation; including critical use of rigid and deformable image registration, assessing mapping uncertainties, and radiobiological dose correction
  • Understand the available evidence on dose constraints for normal tissue in the re-irradiation setting
  • Understand the potential role played by novel technologies, such as proton therapy

Who should attend?

Everybody interested in or dealing with re-irradiation in clinical practice - including (radiation) oncologists, physicists and RTTs. We also welcome radiotherapy researchers working on topics relevant for re-irradiation, such as radiobiologists, computer scientists, or data scientists.

Scientific programme

The programme is available here.

Radio-metabolomics: How does radiotherapy affect cancer cell metabolism, and vice versa?

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 from 08:30-17:00

Course directors:

  • Anthony Chalmers, radiation oncologist, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Jullie Schwarz, radiation oncologist, Washington University St. Louis. US
  • Conchita Vens, radiation biologist, University of Glasgow, UK

Course aim:

Enable a basic understanding of metabolism and the metabolic changes that are frequently observed in cancers, and how these changes (i) are affected by radiotherapy and (ii) influence cellular and tumour responses to radiotherapy.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course participants should be able to:

  • understand the key features of the cancer metabolomic phenotype.
  • appreciate the methods and models available to characterize and interrogate metabolic states and responses.
  • understand how radiotherapy affects metabolic processes in normal and cancer cells.
  • understand how metabolic states and phenotypes can affect cellular responses to radiotherapy.
  • appreciate the role of metabolism in imaging and outcome prediction.
  • recognize opportunities to target cancer metabolism.

Who should attend?

Radiation oncologists and molecular, translational and imaging scientists who are keen to understand cancer metabolism in the context of radiotherapy and are interested in incorporating metabolic questions and approaches into their work.

Scientific programme

The programme is available here.

Embracing the AI Revolution: A one-day dive into future-proof implementation

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 from 08:30-17:00

Course directors: 

  • Jennifer Dhont, Medical Physicist, Institut Jules Bordet (BE)
  • Frank Hoebers, Radiation Oncologist, Maastro Clinic (NL)
  • Stine Sofia Korreman, Medical Physicist, Aarhus University (DK)

Course aim:

To provide an insight into the practical aspects of implementing AI technology into the radiation oncology workflow. We aim for a multidisciplinary environment where topics related to AI adoption and its impact can be explored and discussed, promoting collaborative solutions.

Learning objectives:   

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Understand the basic principles of supervised prediction models
  • Identify the risks (or lack thereof) of AI-based automated methods
  • Recognize the challenges and opportunities of implementing an AI solution
  • Discuss the multidisciplinary requirements of AI in the clinic
  • Address education and training of staff in an AI-fuelled clinic
  • Make informed projections about the future clinical landscape shaped by AI   

Who should attend?

Clinical working staff (medical physicists, radiation oncologists and RTTs) and researchers working on clinical translation. The course will be aimed at those who will be confronted with AI in their daily clinical practice and wish to gain an insight into the practical aspects of its implementation.

Online Adaptive Radiotherapy: Skills and Knowledge for RTTs

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 from 08:30-17:00

Course directors:

  • Helen McNair, Therapeutic Radiographer, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research (UK)
  • Elizabeth Forde, Assistant Professor (Radiation Therapist), Trinity College Dublin (IE)

Course aim: This course aims to provide participants with an understanding of the online adaptive workflow and the skills involved to deliver adaptive radiotherapy.  The critical role RTTs play in the safe practice of online ART will be highlighted.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course participants should be able to:

  • Discuss the clinical indications and dosimetric benefits of performing online adaptive radiotherapy
  • Describe the role of the RTT in the online adaptive workflow, for both MRgART and CBCT based ART
  • Identify the specific skills RTTs require for online ART, thereby supporting its implementation at a local level
  • Identify the key components of MR safety
  • Identify potential risks and failures of implementing online ART
  • Discuss patients’ specific needs in an online ART environment

Who should attend?

This course is predominately targeted towards RTTs with an interest in adaptive radiotherapy using online approaches; however, any professional wanting to increase their knowledge of online ART will also find it useful.  The course is pitched at all RTTs, irrespective of their stage in their careers or experience with ART.

Clinical Translation of CT Innovations in Radiotherapy

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 08:30-17:00

Course directors:

  • Vicki Trier Taasti, Department of Radiation Oncology (Maastro), Maastricht (NL)
  • Patrick Wohlfahrt, Siemens Healthineers – Cancer Therapy Imaging (DE)

Course aim:

Computed tomography (CT) is a pivotal element for clinical decision-making, tumour and organ segmentation, as well as treatment planning in radiotherapy (RT). This course will provide a general understanding of CT imaging in radiotherapy of today, highlight new technological opportunities, and will provide practical insights on the translation of CT innovations into routine clinical care. A common understanding and knowledge base will be established in presentations and panel discussions to bridge the gap between academic research and clinical care to facilitate a proper, fast and widespread implementation of CT innovations into clinical routine.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Understand various CT acquisition techniques and image types
  • Assess the impact of scan and reconstruction parameters on treatment planning
  • Establish strategies for quality assurance and commissioning of CT innovations in RT
  • Recognise image artefacts (e.g. due to metal implants, or in respiratory 4DCT) and develop mitigation strategies
  • Explore beneficial use cases of dual-energy CT in a routine RT workflow
  • Address their clinical CT challenges and ideas
  • Describe clinical opportunities of next-generation (photon-counting) CT in RT

Who should attend?

  • Medical physicists in charge of commissioning and quality assurance of CT applications within the clinic and/or with an interest in CT innovations for radiotherapy for treatment planning and dose calculation in general.
  • Radiation therapists performing CT simulation at the clinic and interested in facilitating clinical workflows.
  • Radiation oncologists with an interest in improving CT image quality for organ and tumour segmentation as well as the implementation of new CT technologies.
  • Clinical teams, scientists and individuals looking to benchmark their CT practice, pick-up new research ideas for CT innovations, and bridge the gap between academic research and clinical care.

Scientific programme

The programme is available here.

Radiobiology and modelling in Brachytherapy

 

Friday, 3 May 2024 from 08:30-17:00

Course directors:

  • Frank-André Siebert, Medical Physicist, UKSH, Campus Kiel Clinic of Radiotherapy (DE)
  • Jean-Michel Hannoun-Levi, Radiation Oncologist, Antoine Lacassagne Cancer Center - University Côte d’Azur (FR)

Course aim:

  • Basic understanding of Radiobiology and Brachytherapy
  • Clinical application of Radiobiology in Brachytherapy

Learning objectives:

  • Fundamentals of BT Radiobiology
  • Pre-clinical radiobiology approach
  • Clinical radiobiology approach
  • BT radiobiology history/Biology and Brachytherapy/α/β/Re-irradiation
  • PDR vs HDR/BT vs best external beam techniques/High dose regions (focal/integrated boost)
  • Optimal number of BT frations: is less always better?/Cervix/Prostate/Breast/GI/Skin/H&N

Who should attend?

  • Radiation oncologists
  • Radiation physicists
  • RTTs
  • Radiobiologists

Scientific programme

The programme is available here.