A review of the advances in Physics and Technology that enable today’s Radiation Therapy

John Schreiner
Past President, Medical Physics for World Benefit
Former Chief Medical Physicist, CCSEO at KHSC
Emeritus Professor, Oncology and Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy,  Queen’s University

Abstract

Radiation Therapy is one of the four main options for cancer treatment with about 50% of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy at some point in their care. The ability to deliver highly targeted personalized treatment has advanced considerably in the past four decades because of improvements in the  imaging and dose calculation systems for treatment planning, in the control and sophistication of radiation delivery units, and in further improvements in treatment systems enabling dose delivery verification prior to patient irradiation. In this talk I will describe these advances through a personalized review of changes over a career. The talk will focus primarily on external beam photon treatment highlighting some of the physics that defines dose calculation and delivery. Some specific treatment techniques will be described to illustrate how the advances have impacted patient care.

Timbits, coffee, tea will be served in STI A before the colloquium.