Course Director
Dirk Verellen, Physicist, Academisch Ziekenhuis VUB, Brussels (BE)
Teachers
Rianne de Jong, Radiation Technologist, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam (NL)
Vincent Khoo, Radiation Oncologist, Royal Marsden Hospital, London (GB)
Christian Kirisits, Physicist, Allgemeines Krankenhaus Wien, AKH, Vienna (AT)
Trine Juhler-Nøttrup, Radiation Oncologist, The Finsen Center - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen (DK)
Stine Sofia Korreman, Physicist, The Finsen Center - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen (DK)
Uwe Oelfke, Physicist, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg (DE)
Coen Rasch, Radiation Oncologist, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam (NL)
Marcel van Herk, Physicist, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam (NL)
Course Aim
- To cover both theoretical and practical aspects related to the clinical implementation of in-room imaging in radiotherapy.
- To review imaging techniques that can be applied in the workflow of conformal radiotherapy and understand how individual links in the chain of events will influence clinical outcome (from treatment prescription, to preparation & planning, to patient setup & verification and finally follow-up).
- To identify potential sources of errors in target delineation/ localisation and how IGRT can be of help, with special emphasis on conformal radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy and influence of organ motion.
- To understand the concept “target delineation - target localisation” at each particular step in the treatment chain, and identify appropriate techniques to increase efficiency, as well as efficacy.
- To offer an overview of available technologies and how to integrate these in clinical practice.
- To compare available technologies and help define applicability to particular use.
- To understand the functionality of the equipment and technology, and identify limitations of a particular method.
- To learn to establish an efficient image-guided workflow through optimal integration of available technologies, and understand the importance of teamwork and training.
- QA of IGRT systems.
Educational Programme
This is a 5-day course organised to identify the influence of image guidance at important steps in the workflow of radiation therapy. The following items will be covered in view of in-room imaging for therapy guidance:
- Image guidance required for treatment prescription
- Image guidance in treatment preparation and treatment planning
- Image guidance in patient set-up and target localization during treatment
- Image guidance in treatment follow-up
Small workshops will be organised to cover specific techniques using film and demo material of all commercially available systems. The format will be
based on interactive discussion sessions between the company vendors, representative users, teachers and participants.
On Sunday December 7, site visits are planned to provide the participants with hands-on experience using different commercially available systems. Because no patients are treated on Sunday, practical hands-on experience will be emphasised. When registering for the course, participants should indicate their preference from the 4 possible visits in order to enable the organisers to plan the visits:
- U Z Brussel: stereotactic kV-Imaging, 6DOF robotics and respiratory synchronised gating (BrainLAB), MegaVolt CT (Tomotherapy)
- KUL, Leuven: KV Cone Beam CT (Varian), UltraSound
- MAASTRO, Maastricht: MegaVolt Cone Beam CT (Siemens)
- UZG, Ghent: UltraSound (Varian), KV Cone Beam CT (Elekta)
On Wednesday December 10 videos will be shown on all commercially available systems in interactive discussion sessions between the company vendors, teachers and participants.
Target Group
The course is aimed at all professionals in the field of radiation oncology that are involved in target localisation at any point in the treatment chain. This includes radiation oncologists, radiation physicists, and radiation technologists. A thorough understanding of issues related to target delineation, target localisation and patient set-up is a prerequisite as is some experience in the field. As the emphasis will be on integration of IGRT techniques and practical implementation, the “team effort” is important and simultaneous participation of physicists, radiation oncologists and radiation technologists is strongly encouraged.
Working Schedule
The course starts on Sunday December 7 and will finish on Thursday December 11. To ensure the course starts on time, participants are encouraged to register on Saturday December 6 at the course venue from 17:00 to 19:00. If this is not possible, they can register on Sunday morning before the start of the course.