DOSIMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ADAPTIVE RADIOTHERAPY

Nyomtatóbarát változatNyomtatóbarát változat
Doctoral school: 
Fizikai Tudományok Doktori Iskola
Year/Semester: 
2022/2023/1
Supervisor
Name: 
Csilla Pesznyak
Email: 
pesznyak@reak.bme.hu
Institute: 
Institute of Nuclear Techniques
Job title: 
associate professor
Academic degree: 
PhD
Description: 

Adaptation in radiotherapy emerged more than two decades ago and adaptive techniques have been still advancing. Technical improvements in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) allowed to achieve highly conformal dose coverage in target volumes, while sparing nearby healthy tissue due to high dose gradients at the edges of the treated volumes. The risk of the so-called double trouble of missing the target and overdosing healthy tissues due to inaccurate delivery of IMRT treatment can be reduced using image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) techniques. Furthermore, patient specific quality assurance of the treatment plans can monitor the deliverability and robustness of the treatments. Despite all of these advances, individual anatomical changes over the course of multi-fractional treatments can have a large effect on the differences between calculated and delivered dose distribution in patients. Significant changes in patient anatomy can be reported for several treatment localisations, two major areas are head-and-neck and pelvic cases. The first mostly because of tumour shrinkage during treatment and the latest one due to differences in daily bladder and rectum filling. Adaptive radiotherapy addresses this problem by combining the above-mentioned techniques with re-planning based on offline or online images. Many different types of adaptation are available these days including the latest online adaptation using deformable image registration, artificial intelligence based delineating and massive computing capacity for re-planning and dose calculation on-site during the daily treatment process. Dosimetric analysis of these techniques combined with special quality control measurements are crucial for the safe and effective implementation of adaptive radiotherapy in clinical practice. Candidate can be involved in both activities, the special dosimetric equipment and radiotherapy technology will be available in the National Institute of Oncology. The first special linear accelerator named Varian Ethos, dedicated for the adaptive radiation therapy will be installed this spring in Hungary. The PhD topic is strongly connected to the R&D activities of the National Institute of Oncology.

Requirements: 
Experience in radiation therapy and clinical radiation dosimetry. Ability to develop the different protocols and guidelines for dosimetric measurements for adaptive radiotherapy. Good level of English language is a basic requirement.
Project type: 
PhD project for standard admission
Status: 
Finalized/Végleges