History of PARTICLE THERAPY
75 years after the initial proposition of R.R.Wilson to use protons and even energetic carbon ions for tumour treatment [1], ion beam therapy is still considered an emerging form of advanced external beam radiation therapy, which can offer considerable advantages in comparison to the widely used X-rays. In particular, the physical properties of swift ions in matter...
Clinical needs in adaptive therapy
This presentation will provide an overview on the evolution of photon radiotherapy from a clinical perspective. Modern technology permits highly precise dose shaping with a corresponding improvement of normal tissue complications. It also enables new approaches such as extremely hypofractionated treatment courses. This higher precision of the therapy also...
Radiation is being used for cancer therapy for well over 100 years and due to this long history it is sometimes claimed, it is an old fashioned and outdated form of medicine. Radiation therapy is, however, still around and more vital than ever. The main reason is probably, that radiotherapy is based on physical principles and consequently has always been benefitting from technological...
Particle Therapy Basics – Physics Perspective
The ballistic and radiobiological advantages of proton and light ion beams for external beam therapy, in particular the finite range and the elevated linear energy transfer, respectively, rest upon the Coulomb interaction between the projectiles and the constituents of the targets. While nuclear interactions deliver only a rather minor, but...
RAPTOR - the science case
There are different research venues happening within particle therapy. Some of these are very close to clinical realization, others are only in the laboratory.
This presentation will focus on what differentiates a solution from being ready to be used in the clinic in contrast to experiments.
Science Communication
Effective science communication must clearly and succinctly describe the context of scientific work, its importance, and how the results differ from opinion, conjecture, or anecdotal evidence. This lecture will provide with general tips and resources to effectively communicate scientific results. Guidance on how to write a paper and successfully present your latest...
Imaging for particle therapy treatment planning
The lecture will focus on tomographic imaging for particle therapy treatment planning, with special emphasis on the prediction of the stopping power ratio S(PR) as prerequisite for accurate range calculation. This knowledge is valid for both: Treatment planning before therapy start and for plan adaptations. Special emphasis will be on the...
In-room imaging
The potential of particle therapy to precisely tailor the dose distribution around the target volume needs to account for the intrinsic sensitivity to uncertainties in dose deposition. These peculiar features motivate the use of image guided methods to consistently verify the accuracy in dose delivery. Dedicated in-room imaging methods are therefore required, in order to...
Concepts of synthetic imaging
Basic reconstruction techniques for 3D medical imaging rely on pixelized measurements of a signal, including photon transmission and RF signals. The reconstruction methods convert the signals into a grayscale or color coded 3D map of the human anatomy. Historically, the reconstruction methods have used basic physics and mathematics to provide the analytically...
Time resolved imaging
In the last years, particle radiotherapy has attracted increasing interest for the treatment of moving organs, such as pancreas, liver and lung, and promising outcomes have been obtained with proton and carbon ion radiotherapy. Indeed, particle beams present favourable physical properties, allowing conforming the dose to the target while sparing surrounding healthy...
Time and self-management
Sooner or later, every young scientist will realize that good research requires a good approach to time- and self-management. There are two main reasons for that: The complexity of research projects and their often-large time frame. Without good time- and self-management, self-doubt and lack of motivation can easily drain energy and sabotage all planning efforts.
In...
Radiotherapy is proven to be an essential part of cancer treatment. Until now, the vast majority of cancer patients who were treated with radiotherapy, received X‑rays and only a limited number of them, receive radiation from high-energy charged particles. This is still the case, despite the fact that Particle therapy (PT) can deliver higher radiation doses more accurate within the tumor...
Advanced Treatment Planning
This lecture will acquaint the participants with various advanced treatment planning concepts. These include multi-criteria decision making in treatment planning, the use of cost functions, and the most recent developments on automated treatment planning. Furthermore, robust optimization and robust evaluation in clinical practice will be discussed, in particular...
PT perspectives and challenges: clinical
Particle therapy using protons or heavier ions is currently the most advanced form of radiotherapy and offers new opportunities for improving cancer care and research. Ions deposit the dose with a sharp maximum (i.e. the Bragg peak) and normal tissue receives a much lower dose than what is delivered by X-ray therapy. Particle therapy has also...
The role of Raptor for the democratization of proton therapy
The prospects of proton therapy will depend largely on our ability to make this treatment modality affordable for the majority of our patients. One potential solution to achieve substantial cost savings is to get rid of the large and costly gantry by positioning the patient on a flexible chair relative to a fixed proton beam. Raptor...
Good scientific practice
As a researcher, it is your responsibility to maintain and adhere to basic principles ensuring reliability and integrity of the research performed. The fundamental principles relate to honesty, responsibility, reliability, fairness, openness, transparency, objectivity, and impartiality. When working in the health sciences, the protection of personal data is...
Perspective on publishing and OA
Both researchers and society as a whole benefit from freely accessible research findings. In addition, more and more funders and institutions expect their researchers to publish research results Open Access. In this talk, you will get to know the Open Access requirements for scientific publications under Horizon 2020 (-> RAPTOR). You will learn about your...
Scripting in a modern TPS
This presentation will give you an overview of scripting in the RayStation treatment planning system. We will talk about why scripting is useful and important, both in an every-day clinic environment and for research purposes. We will discuss how scripting is implemented in RayStation and the benefits of using a well-used programming language. We will also have a...
Monte Carlo dose calculations
Monte Carlo (MC) methods in radiation therapy have been increasingly important in the last two decades. MC-based dose calculation shifted from being considered a tool for a few to a widespread resource for daily use by medical physics and clinicians. This was the result of a continuous development and benchmarking of the models handling biophysical phenomena of...
Best Practices and Services for FAIR Data Management
The focus of this presentation is on research data gathered in scientific projects. Research data lay the foundation for publications but can also be of huge benefit for other researchers if they are shared in an appropriate way. Therefore, Research Data Management, plays a crucial role in every scientific endeavor. Basic requirements can...
Role of Particle Therapy in Cancer Care
zoom link to access the talk: https://lmu-munich.zoom.us/j/96417723332?pwd=NHpLR01Rd2N6Q1RobWt2bG5lVGNLUT09
More than 250.000 patients have been treated with particle therapy worldwide. The vast majority of patients, i.e. >240.000 for more than 3 decades treated with protons and about 13-15% (>30.000) using carbon ions. The main physical advantages of...
