Science Highlights of the 50th AAPM Meeting in Houston, July 27 to ...

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Newswise - Whether X-rays for CT scans, sound waves for ultrasound,magnetic fields for MRI, or antimatter for PET scans, the "stuff"of physics has revolutionized the practice of medicine. In the lasthalf century, the field of medical physics has emerged thanks tothe efforts of scientists who develop these technologies and bringthem to the clinic.
Almost all the hospitals in the United States today benefit fromthe work of medical physicists. They help diagnose illness bydesigning and implementing new and better ways of imaging the humanbody. They create treatment strategies for fighting cancer andother diseases. They take measures to ensure the safety of millionsof people in the United States each year who undergoing thesetreatments.
Next week, thousands of medical physicists will meet at the 50thmeeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine(AAPM) from July 27 to July 31 in Houston, Texas. AAPM is thelargest association of medical physicists in the world.
"Traditionally our annual meeting is where scientists andclinicians working on the cutting edge of medical imaging andcancer therapy come to sharpen their knives, says AAPM PresidentGerald A. White, M.S., FAAPM, FACR. "This year's meeting in Houstonis on track to be the largest and most important in the history ofthe AAPM. The organization was founded in the dawn of the atomicage, and each year our members build on that heritage toinvestigate and implement scientific and technological innovationsthat give definition to the medical care of the future."
Journalists are invited to cover the AAPM meeting in person orremotely. In the coming days, additional news releases will detailadditional meeting highlights. All news releases will be hosted onthe AAPM website (see link below).
-----SECTION ONE: HIGHLIGHTS IN BRIEF-----
1) GOLD NANOSHELLS HELP VISIBLY HEAT AND DESTROY CANCER
"...The use of magnetic resonance temperature imaging and goldnanoshells hold the very real possibility of meeting thelong-sought goal of improving the precision of thermal ablation [alethal dose of laser-generated heat to tumors], while sparinghealthy tissue..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
2) TRACKING STEM CELLS TO THE HEART
"...For the first time, researchers have tracked [certain] stemcells in mice using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from theirbone marrow origin to the injured site. This opens up thepossibility of finding some therapeutic treatment to direct thesecells after a heart attack..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
3) NEW IRRADIATION METHOD HOLDS POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING BONE MARROWTRANSPLANT PRECONDITIONING STEP
"...People facing bone marrow transplants have a series ofchallenges to surmount. One of the first is the total destructionby radiation of their bone marrow in a process called total bodyirradiation..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
4) ATTACKING TUMORS BIT BY BIT
"...Not all parts of a tumor respond to radiation therapy in thesame way. Treatments in the future may target the most resistanttumor regions, but measuring this resistance is far fromstraightforward, a new analysis shows..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
5) NEW RADIATION THERAPY METHOD OFFERS SHORTER TREATMENT TIME
"...Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a method ofdepositing radiation with varying intensities to different parts ofcancerous tumors, while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue fromexcessive exposure. A new variant of IMRT, called volumetricmodulated arc therapy (VMAT), promises further benefit to patientsby offering the same treatment in half the time..." FULL DETAILSBELOW
6) TUNING X RAYS FOR THERAPY AND IMAGING
"...Currently, the X rays used for diagnostic tests and cancerradiotherapy are composed of what is known as broadband radiation,consisting of a wide range of energies. A more efficient techniqueusing lower doses of narrow-band radiation that can be specificallyfocused on cancerous tissue has been developed..." FULL DETAILSBELOW
7) COMPUTER-AIDED ORGAN IDENTIFICATION
"...Physicians and medical physicists often spend hours drawinglines around tumors and organs in CT images, causing a majorbottleneck in cancer treatment. A new semi-automatic user-interfacecould reduce the time and fatigue associated with this meticuloustask..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
8) NEW TECHNIQUE TO ESTIMATE LUNG TUMOR CHANGES
"...Lung cancer presents a special challenge to cliniciansattempting to evaluate the effectiveness of radiation treatment anddetermine the total dose of radiation received by the tumor andsurrounding tissues. The reason is simple: lung tumors changeposition as an individual breathes during medical scans..." FULLDETAILS BELOW
9) HOSPITAL COMPILES EXPERIENCE WITH LATEST IMAGE-GUIDED RADIATIONTHERAPY
"...One of the pioneering machines in image-guided radiationtherapy (IGRT) has begun to mature, with over 1,000 treatments atone Oklahoma hospital alone. The hospital's staff has generatedbest-fit parameters from this voluminous data set..." FULL DETAILSBELOW
10) CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF WOMEN IN MEDICAL PHYSICS
"...As part of the celebration of its 50th annual meeting, theAmerican Association of Physicists in Medicine will honorcontributions of distinguished women scientists in itsmembership..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
11) PREVENTING MEDICAL ERRORS IN RADIATION THERAPY
"...One of the worst possible outcomes of any type of medical careis when the treatment someone receives causes them unexpected harmdue to an error or failure in the health care system. Preventablemedical errors occur in all areas of health care, and by someestimates they are widespread..." FULL DETAILS BELOW
-------SECTION TWO: FULL DETAILS ON SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS------
1) GOLD NANOSHELLS HELP VISIBLY HEAT AND DESTROY CANCER
Most cancer tumors that have clear borders and are well definedhave traditionally been treated successfully by surgical removal.But not all cancers respond to conventional surgery. Moreimportantly, conventional surgery brings risks of complications andlong recovery periods that can negatively impact a person's qualityof life.
To overcome these treatment limits, a group of researchers based atthe University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, turned tolasers and nanotechnology. They explored an emergingminimally-invasive approach to treating tumors that delivers alethal dose of laser-generated heat to tumors, known as thermalablation. To improve thermal ablation, they added a nano-twist thatprecisely guides and concentrates heat in targeted tumors.
Working with Nanospectra Biosciences, Inc., researchers injectednanoshells made of gold silica into canine models of brain cancer.The nanoshells homed to the target tumors, where they were taken inby the tumor cells. Next, researchers irradiated thenanoparticle-filled tumor with low-power laser light to selectivelyheat the tumor-but not the surrounding, healthy tissue. M.D.Anderson researchers added iron-oxide cores to the nanoshells tomake them visible by magnetic resonance imaging so researcherscould observe the process.
Results from these experiments were supported by numerical modelingstudies, and by scanning electron microscope data showingdestructive thermal increases near the tumors' blood supplies."Based on these encouraging early results, we conclude that the useof magnetic resonance temperature imaging and gold nanoshells holdthe very real possibility of meeting the long-sought goal ofimproving the precision of thermal ablation, while sparing healthytissue," explains M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's R.J. Stafford,Ph.D. . "Temperature imaging and guidance is an invaluable toolfurthering this approach as it moves from feasibility studies tofuture use in human clinical trials."
Talk (WE-C-351-1), "Characterization of Gold Nanoshells for ThermalTherapy Using MRI" is at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 inroom 351.
Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9309-76032-210.pdf .
2) TRACKING STEM CELLS TO THE HEART
For several years, doctors have known that certain stem cellsmigrate to the heart after a heart attack, but exactly how they getthere and what purpose they serve remained uncertain. Now for thefirst time, researchers have tracked the stem cells in mice usingmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from their bone marrow origin tothe injured site. This opens up the possibility of finding sometherapeutic treatment to direct these cells after a heart attack.
Mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, are found in the bone marrow andcan differentiate into certain cell types. They have been detectedaround heart injuries following a myocardial infarction (heartattack), but whether they come to regenerate heart tissue or topromote healing is still under debate.
Using a series of MRI scans, Tom Hu and colleagues at the MedicalCollege of Georgia in Augusta, GA, have tracked MSCs in a sample ofmice. The researchers first transplanted into the bone marrow a fewhundred thousand MSCs that had been labeled with both iron-oxide (amolecule that essentially shades out the MRI signal) and a specialprotein that fluoresces when exposed to blue light. The team thenoperated on all of the mice, inducing a heart attack in one group.Over the following days, MRI scans showed a gradual darkeningaround the site of injury in the heart attack group, which waspresumably due to the arrival of the labeled MSCs. The researchersvalidated this migration with fluorescent microscopy.
The goal now is to devise a way to attach an MRI-sensitive markerto MSCs in humans who have suffered a heart attack. This wouldallow doctors to more closely study these cells, and perhaps devisetreatments that can control their migration. Talk (TU-D-352-02),"Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Track Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs)in a Murine Myocardial Infarction Model" is at 1:42 p.m. onTuesday, July 29, 2008 in room 352. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9473-89709-126.pdf .
3) NEW IRRADIATION METHOD HOLDS POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVING BONE MARROWTRANSPLANT PRECONDITIONING STEP
People facing bone marrow transplants have a series of challengesto surmount. One of the first is the total destruction by radiationof their bone marrow in a process called total body irradiation.This preconditions the person's body to accept the new marrow astreatment for cancers of the blood and immune system.
Preconditioning may one day be improved if a feasibility study by agroup of Chicago-area researchers is validated in further studies.In experiments using a specialized manikin-like form that is theradiological equivalent of the human body, 98% of the intendedstructures received 99% of prescribed radiation dose, while normalbody structures were spared from high doses. "Compared toconventional total body irradiation, this new approach reducedradiation to critical body parts such as the heart and the lungs byas much as 64% and 30% respectively which is a distinctimprovement," says lead researcher Bulent Aydogan, Ph.D. of theUniversity of Chicago . Collaborators include researchers from theUniversity of Illinois/Chicago and Loyola University MedicalCenter.
The new technique is called linac-based Intensity Modulated TotalMarrow Irradiation. "Linac" refers to the linear particleaccelerator used to deliver precisely planned doses of radiation tothe body. Rather than dosing the entire body equally, itselectively targets bone marrow locations and administers lowerradiation doses to the rest of the body.
Such accuracy is made possible by first mapping the patient's bodyin 3D using a sophisticated computer scan. Next, computer programsoptimize each beam of radiation into smaller "beamlets" so thateach beam is individually suited to meet planned dosing goals for agiven site. Finally, a linear particle accelerator (linac) deliversthese planned doses to the patient. Radiation is therefore limitedto bone marrow and cancerous structures, thus sparing criticalorgans in the body. If further evidence supports these earlyfindings, the team hopes to move this new treatment to clinicaltrials involving humans.
Talk (TU-D-AUD B-7), "Feasibility Study for Linac-Based IntensityModulated Total Marrow Irradiation" will be at 2:24 p.m. on TuesdayJuly 29, 2008 in Auditorium B. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9119-58942-165.pdf .
4) ATTACKING TUMORS BIT BY BIT
Not all parts of a tumor respond to radiation therapy in the sameway. Treatments in the future may target the most resistant tumorregions, but measuring this resistance is far from straightforward,a new analysis shows.
Common radiation therapy prescribes a uniform radiation dose to theentire tumor, even though it is commonly known that some regionsresist radiation more than others. Researchers are thereforeexperimenting with ways to tailor the treatment, with so-called"dose painting," so that more radiation falls on theradio-resistant parts.
For this to be effective, radio-resistance must be well-defined atthe molecular level. This presumably can be done with PET scansusing the radio-tracer FLT (fluoro-L-thymidine). When injected intothe body, FLT is grabbed up by cells in the process of celldivision. Therefore, rapidly-dividing cancer cells will look brightin a PET scan. Once treatment is started, those cells that remainbright would be considered radio-resistant, i.e. the radiation isnot affecting their activity. But this simple brightness measure,called a standardized uptake value (SUV), is not the only way tolocate non-responsive cells in a PET image. A more precise way(based on a parameter called KFLT) is to model how the radio-tracertravels through the body and is taken up by cells over time.
Urban Simoncic of the Institut Jozef Stefan in Ljubljana, Slovenia,together with collaborators from University of Wisconsin-Madisoncompared the SUV and KFLT techniques on the exact same sets of PETscans and found that the two selected out different regions asbeing radio-resistant. This implies that a dose painting treatmentbased on one model would differ significantly from that based onthe other. The researchers believe the community needs to addressthis discrepancy with more careful clinical investigation.
Talk (MO-E-AUD C-1), "Dosimetric Differences for Dose Painting,Based On SUV Or KFLT FLT-PET Image Ratio" is at 4:00 p.m. on MondayJuly 28, 2008 in Auditorium C. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9061-97759-696.pdf .
5) NEW RADIATION THERAPY METHOD OFFERS SHORTER TREATMENT TIME
Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a method ofdepositing radiation with varying intensities to different parts ofcancerous tumors, while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue fromexcessive exposure. A new variant of IMRT, called volumetricmodulated arc therapy (VMAT), promises further benefit to patientsby offering the same treatment in half the time.
In the IMRT method, a computer-controlled linear accelerator sweepsa narrow (1-2 cm wide) slit of radiation across the tumor from fiveto nine angles around the patient, one angle at a time. The VMATmethod, in contrast, delivers radiation in a 360-degree arc whilethe beam aperture shape continuously changes. A variant of the VMATtechnique, proposed by Pengpeng Zhang , an assistant attendingphysicist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and hiscolleagues Laura Happersett and Gig Mageras, breaks the arc into360 evenly divided beams. A computer program developed by theresearchers adjusts the aperture shape and radiation dose of eachbeam to maximize the radiation to the tumor while keeping healthytissue exposure down at acceptable levels. Because the resultingbeam apertures are much larger in VMAT than in IMRT, treatment timeis substantially less and patient exposure to radiation leakagefrom the accelerator is reduced.
Zhang and his colleagues retrospectively evaluated the feasibilityof this procedure in data from five patients treated for prostatecancer. The treatment times they calculated were reduced by up to50 percent--from the 5 minutes typical for IMRT down to 2 ½minutes-with a corresponding decrease in the amount of radiationleakage received by healthy tissues. Zhang hopes to extend thetechnique to the treatment of other cancers, including those of thehead and neck, brain and pelvis.
Talk (TU-D-AUD B-2), "Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy:Implementation and Evaluation for Prostate Cancer Cases" will be at1:42 p.m. on Tuesday July 29, 2008 in Auditorium B. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-8777-46582-702.pdf
6) TUNING X RAYS FOR THERAPY AND IMAGING
Currently, the X rays used for diagnostic tests and cancerradiotherapy are composed of what is known as broadband radiation,consisting of a wide range of energies. A more efficient techniqueusing lower doses of narrow-band radiation that can be specificallyfocused on cancerous tissue has been developed by a team ofresearchers from Harvard University, Ohio State University, andThomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
The researchers use an instrument known as an electron beam iontrap (EBIT) to generate special X rays that can be tuned to aparticular energy band so that they react in resonance with certainnanoparticles or contrast agents (for example, the contrasts usedfor diagnostic imaging) embedded into tumors. When thenanoparticles are struck by those resonant X rays, the particlesabsorb energy efficiently, then radiate this energy nearby, andthus achieve direct tumor cell damage. Some of the particles willfluoresce. These signature emissions "can be detected anddifferentiated almost like scanning for your favorite radiostations," says study head Yan Yu , Professor and Director ofMedical Physics at Thomas Jefferson University, allowing veryhigh-resolution imaging of the tumor, but with very low doses ofradiation elsewhere. Although the technique has not yet been usedon patients, "it will eventually allow us to use x-rays in apristine, smart way," says Yu.
Talk (TU-D-352-8), "Innovative Instrumentation for Resonant CancerTheranostics" will be at 2:54 p.m. on Tuesday July 29, 2008 in Room352. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9159-65642-404.pdf .
7) COMPUTER-AIDED ORGAN IDENTIFICATION
Physicians and medical physicists often spend hours drawing linesaround tumors and organs in CT images, causing a major bottleneckin cancer treatment. A new semi-automatic user-interface couldreduce the time and fatigue associated with this meticulous task.
Radiation therapy begins with a CT scan in which 100 or soindividual images (slices) are combined to create a 3D map of theregion around the tumor. During the following segmentation step,all the organs and sensitive tissues must be identified andoutlined for each slice, so that the medical physicist can plan atreatment that provides the highest dose to the target, whilesparing the surrounding healthy tissue.
The resolution in CT scans is constantly increasing, which meansmore slices and more time required for segmentation. In addition,moving organs like the lung are starting to be scanned severaltimes to form a time sequence. This can multiply by 10 the numberof images an expert must analyze.
To help with this overwhelming load, Yu-chi Hu and Gig Mageras ofthe Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, alongwith Michael Grossberg of the City College of New York havedeveloped a computer program that can segment organs with just asmall amount of user input. Starting with one CT image, the usermakes a crude outline of each organ. The computer takes this roughsketch and plugs it into a statistically-based algorithm, which itthen uses to generate contours in subsequent images. The userchecks the computer-drawn boundaries and can correct mistakes withtiny brushstrokes on the computer screen. These corrections arereincorporated by the software to better refine the algorithm.
With funding from the NIH, the team tested the user interface onseveral CT scans and found that on average an image could besegmented in roughly 6 seconds with the computer's help, instead ofthe 30 seconds or more in the unaided case. The researcher'salgorithm correctly identified 98% of the image pixels, which was ahigher precision than other contour-drawing algorithms that theresearchers tested. The group is now planning to put the systeminto clinical use within 6 to 9 months.
Talk (TH-D-332-2), "Semi-Automatic Medical Image Segmentation withAdaptive Local Statistics in Conditional Random Field Framework" isat 1:42 p.m. on Thursday July 31, 2008 in Room 332. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9074-9005-850.pdf .
8) NEW TECHNIQUE TO ESTIMATE LUNG TUMOR CHANGES
Lung cancer presents a special challenge to clinicians attemptingto evaluate the effectiveness of radiation treatment and determinethe total dose of radiation received by the tumor and surroundingtissues. The reason is simple: lung tumors change position as anindividual breathes during medical scans. This unavoidable movementof the lungs makes it difficult to accurately assess tumor volume(particularly in the very small malignant nodules that are moretreatable if detected early) and track any changes in size that mayhave resulted from treatment.
Issam M. El Naqa , an assistant professor of radiation oncology atWashington University in St. Louis, and his colleagues have deviseda novel solution. Their semi-automated system combines two types ofcomputer algorithms previously only used separately to process datafrom computerized tomography (CT) scans of the lungs.
So-called deformable regression algorithms are used to create aconsistent set of coordinates on which tumor position and size canbe mapped over the course of treatment, and segmentation algorithmsallow tumors to be precisely located and distinguished from otherlung tissue (or "segmented") in CT images. El Naqa and hiscolleagues, realizing that "both approaches could significantlybenefit from the results of the other algorithm if coupled in thesame framework," created a new program that does just that.

El Naqa, who has tested the combination algorithm in a preliminarystudy of four people with non-small cell lung cancer, says that themethod provides more accurate and consistent results for trackingtumor changes. He says the technique "would allow us to learn moreabout tumor response to treatment and potentially be used intreatment adaptation," or, perhaps, in the pre-planning oftreatment strategies that would reduce the overall levels of toxicradiation received by people undergoing radiotherapy for lungcancer.
Talk (WE-E-AUD C-07), "A Robust Approach for Estimating TumorVolume Change During Radiotherapy of Lung Cancer" is at 5:12 p.m.on Wednesday July 30, 2008 in Auditorium C. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9234-11920-790.pdf .
In related work, researchers at the University of California, SanDiego, have developed a computer algorithm to localize the positionof lung tumors during fluoroscopic imaging. Fluoroscopic imagingpermits clinicians to view images obtained in real time, butbecause of the poor contrast between lung tumors and normal lungtissue, tumors can be essentially invisible. However, the tumorsmay move in concert with anatomic features that are easier tovisualize and that can serve as stand-ins.
"The algorithm that we are developing will be able to automaticallyselect surrogate anatomic features whose motions are correlatedwith tumor motion," says study senior author Steve Jiang ,Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department ofRadiation Oncology at UCSD. "Thus, by tracking their motion we canderive the positions of the unseen tumors."
Talk (TU-C-351-09), "Fluoroscopic Lung Tumor Tracking" is at 11:36a.m. on Tuesday July 29, 2008 in Room 351. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-8851-2876-103.pdf .
9) HOSPITAL COMPILES EXPERIENCE WITH LATEST IMAGE-GUIDED RADIATIONTHERAPY
One of the pioneering machines in image-guided radiation therapy(IGRT) has begun to mature, with over 1,000 treatments at oneOklahoma hospital alone. The hospital's staff has generatedbest-fit parameters from this voluminous data set.
In 2003, the TomoTherapy® Hi Art® treatment system became one of the first to combine intensitymodulated radiation therapy with CT scanning to ensure that thepatient is well-positioned to receive the highly-sculpted beamenergy. One of the specifications that makes the TomoTherapyhardware unique is that radiation is applied by a constantlyrotating beam through which the patient advances on a slow-movingcouch. The result is a helically-shaped radiation delivery.
Even though the TomoTherapy system is more automated thantraditional treatment plans, the user must choose parameters suchas beam size, delivery modulation, gantry rotation speed, and howfast the couch moves. As the technology is still fairly new, notmany medical physicists are very familiar yet with what values touse.

But Dr. Allen Movahed and his fellow staff are highly experiencedwith TomoTherapy planning parameters, seeing as the CancerTreatment Center in Tulsa, OK, where they work has two of themachines. Ninety percent of the hospital's 70 radiation treatmentsper day are performed on a TomoTherapy machine. Dr. Movahed saysthe reason is that the helical radiation delivery provides bettertumor coverage and depending on the shape and location of the tumoreven less time than other radiation therapy technologies.
Dr. Movahed and colleagues have compiled a list of best-fitparameters that draw from their own trial and error with theTomoTherapy machines. The procedures covered include prostate,lungs, brain, liver, head & neck, breast, pelvis and pancreas.
Talk (WE-C-AUD C-05), " Analysis of Best Fitting Tomo TreatmentPlanning Parameters for Prostate, Lung, Breast, Brain, Liver, Head& Neck, Breast, Pelvis and Pancreas Lesions From Our 3 YearsExperience Planning for Nearly 1000 Patients" is at 10:48 a.m. onWednesday July 30, 2008 in Auditorium C. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9657-68328-620.pdf
10) CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF WOMEN IN MEDICAL PHYSICS
As part of the celebration of its 50th annual meeting, the AmericanAssociation of Physicists in Medicine will honor contributions ofdistinguished women scientists in its membership. Panelists willdiscuss topics ranging from the past, present and future ofradiation therapy, to the impact of growing ranks of women on thefield, to the emergence of non-traditional medical physics andnovel methods for teaching physics, such as addressing the physicsof soccer.
In 1958 when the organization was formed, 20 of its 133 members --15% -- were women. In 2008, women make up 19% of the AAPMmembership (1,297 women and 6,597 men. "This ratio is much lowerthan in other countries. For example in the United Kingdom,approximately 50% of undergraduates pursuing medical physics arewomen," says Cari Borrás, D.Sc., Women's Coordinator of theMinority Recruitment Subcommittee of the AAPM. ( cariborras@starpower.net ) "This discrepancy between the U.S. and Europe suggests there's agreat role for AAPM to play in women's medical physics education toopen this important career field to more women."
From early pioneering work to current discoveries, AAPM's femalemembers have made seminal contributions in radiology, nuclearmedicine and radiation therapy, as well as in some non-traditionalareas of medical physics such as mechanics, optics andelectromagnetism. They have also held key leadership roles withinthe organization of the AAPM, and won distinguished awards. Theseawards include the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977,by Rosalyn A. Yalow; the AAPM William D. Coolidge Award in 1977 byEdith E. Quimby, and the AAMP Award for Achievement in MedicalPhysics by Mary Louise Meurk in 2000, Azam Niroomand-Rad in 2006,and Marilyn Stovall in 2007.
Symposium (WE-E-342-2), "(Part II) 50 Years of Women in MedicalPhysics -- Symposium organized by the AAPM Minority RecruitmentSubcommittee" is at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday July 30, 2008 in Room342. Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9986-65686-861.pdf .
11) PREVENTING MEDICAL ERRORS IN RADIATION THERAPY
One of the worst possible outcomes of any type of medical care iswhen the treatment someone receives causes them unexpected harm dueto an error or failure in the health care system. Preventablemedical errors occur in all areas of health care, and by someestimates they are widespread. According to an Institute ofMedicine report released in 1999, at least 44,000 people andperhaps as many as 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as aresult of medical errors that could have been prevented.
Like all hospital disciplines, the field of medical physics has aresponsibility to try to eliminate preventable medical errors. TheAAPM has a working group on preventing errors in radiationoncology, and since the turn of the century has worked to enhancethe safety and quality of patient care.
One of the issues that has emerged in the last few years is theincreasing need to develop more and more sophisticated safety andquality assurance measures to adequately handle the complexities ofadvancing technology. As new and sophisticated technology hasimproved the ability to deliver radiation more accurately,conforming doses to the tumors being treated for instance, it hasalso increased the complexity of the instruments and procedures.With increasing complexity come more opportunities for errors, andso new medical physics technologies have also created the need fornew safety measures that are equally sophisticated.
Peter Dunscombe , who is Director of Medical Physics at Tom BakerCancer Centre in Calgary, Canada, is leading a symposium that willpresent an overview of the latest sophisticated safety methods usedto ensure quality of care for people undergoing radiation therapy.He and his co-participants will also examine how audits of safetyand quality assurance programs might be conducted. They willdiscuss a European database that allows information on medicalerrors to be shared internationally, and they will examine errorsfrom the point of view of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Symposium WE-C-350-1, "Quality in Radiation Therapy: what is it andhow do you achieve it?" is at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday July 30, 2008in Room: 350.
Abstract: http://www.aapm.org/meetings/amos2/pdf/35-9898-12791-679.pdf .
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RELATED LINKS
- AAPM home page: http://www.aapm.org
- Abstracts and search form http://www.aapm.org/meetings/08AM/MeetingProgram.asp
- Press Guide http://www.aapm.org/meetings/08AM/VirtualPressRoom/
- Background article about how medical physics has revolutionizedmedicine:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/538208/
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ABOUT AAPM
The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is ascientific, educational, and professional nonprofit organizationwhose mission is to advance the application of physics to thediagnosis and treatment of human disease. The associationencourages innovative research and development, helps disseminatescientific and technical information, fosters the education andprofessional development of medical physicists, and promotes thehighest quality medical services for patients. In 2008, AAPM willcelebrate its 50th year of serving patients, physicians, andphysicists. Please visit the association's Web site at http://www.aapm.org/ .