Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course participants should be able to:
- Discuss and select modern treatment techniques based on their pros and cons
- Select physics and technical measures that enhance effective and safe application of radiation therapy.
Course Content
1. Lectures on:
- IMRT/VMAT - physics aspects, clinical application and impact
- Stereotactic radiotherapy (cranial and extra-cranial)
- Rotational therapy (VMAT, helical tomotherapy)
- Particle therapy (electrons, protons, ions)
- Volumes in external beam radiotherapy
- Imaging for GTV definition
- Imaging for treatment preparation and planning
- PTV margin calculation
- IGRT (equipment for in-room imaging, set-up correction strategies, clinical examples)
- Adaptive radiotherapy
- Dose prescription and plan evaluation
- Field junctions (how, when, and alternatives)
- Commissioning and Quality Assurance/Control of equipment and software
- Brachytherapy
- Radiobiology in the clinic
- Implementing patient-specific dosimetric QA
- Radiation Protection and risk analysis
- Induction of secondary tumours
- AI based autocontouring - validation and clinical implementation
Specific for clinicians:
- Basic radiation physics
- Dose calculation: principles and application in the TPS
- Radiotherapy equipment
- Physics of advanced radiotherapy.
Specific for physicists:
- Reference and non-reference dosimetry
- Modern dose calculation algorithms
- QA for advanced delivery techniques
- Oncologic concepts.
2. Clinical case discussions:
The participants are invited to prepare treatment plans for selected clinical cases (homework), based on case descriptions and CT scans as provided prior to the course. During the course, the plans are discussed in small groups regarding selected treatment techniques, planning solutions, constraints and objectives, choice of margins, protocols for image guidance, QA, etc. and are guided by a clinician and physicist teacher.
Prerequisites
The participants are invited to prepare the homework for the clinical case discussions (above).
Teaching Methods
- 21 plenary lectures
- 5 lectures targeted at clinicians
- 5 lectures targeted at physicists
- 4 clinical case discussion sessions in small groups.
Methods of Assessment
- Entry and exit exam
- Evaluation form.
Affiliations TBC
Key Words
- Physics and technology in radiotherapy
- Modern treatment techniques
Accreditation
Application for CME recognition will be submitted to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). EACCME credits are recognized by the American Medical Association towards the Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA). Information on the status of the applications can be obtained from the ESTRO office.
Application for CDP credits has been submitted to the European Board for Accreditation in Medical Physics (EBAMP). Information on the status of the application can be obtained from the ESTRO office