This is a new radiation oncology tongue immobilization device to prevent motion or variations in head or neck tumor positions during treatments. The Klarity BiteLok device is being displayed on the expo floor of the 2019 American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting. It uses standard dental putty to mold to the patients mouth, and a clip to hold the mount in place as the head immobilization mask is molded. The mouth piece can be removed from the mask for cleaning.
A new area for proton therapy is eye cancer, because of the ability to control the tissue penetration and eliminate full beam lines through a multitude of critical structures and healthy surrounding tissue in the head. RaySearch unveiled a new treatment planning software for the eye at AAPM 2019. Watch a VIDEO Example of an Eye Proton Therapy Treatment Plan.
The Zap-X stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) brain radiotherapy system is completely self-shielded, eliminating the need for a concrete vault. The goal of the system is to expand SRS brain therapy by making it easier to access and less expensive by eliminating the large expense of custom-built vaults to house the system. Learn more in the VIDEO: Use of a Fully Self-contained Brain Radiotherapy System.
This is a lung cancer tumor radiotherapy treatment plan for the Accuray CyberKnife system demonstrated at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 meeting. The blue lines are the radiation beam lines that are shot from different positions to all intersect in the tumor to deliver the prescribed amount of radiation and prevent damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Learn more in the VIDEO: Lung Cancer Treatment Plan for a CyberKnife Radiotherapy System.
Vision RT was showing its Align RT 3-D body surface tracking technology. It helps align the patient with the treatment plan using a colored light system, which indicates if part of a patient's body is out of alignment from the original computed tomography (CT) scans used to create the treatment plan.
The Image X Institute at the University of Sydney, Australia, is working on a low-cost radiation therapy system for the developing world. The Nano-X system will use a fixed linac gantry and rotate the patient around the beam, since it is less expensive to build a table than the materials and machinery needed to rotate the linac gantry, said Paul Liu, Ph.D., post-doctoral research associate who presented in a session on the project, pictured standing here. VIDEO: Creating a Low-cost Radiotherapy System for the Developing World.
A special tray to irradiate several mice at a time for pre-clinical testing, shown by Precision Imaging on the expo floor at the 2019 American Association Of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting. The company makes X-ray system to irradiate mice for research.
This is the Xoft electric brachytherapy system for breast cavity irradiation following breast surgery. Learn how it works and recent study results in the VIDEO: Improving Breast Cancer Surgery With Electronic Brachytherapy IORT.
The University of Texas Southwest uses a 3-D printing lab to custom build radiotherapy boluses for specific patients. This example is a silicone bolus for cancer in the jaw. They 3-D printed the mold from the patient CT scan.
The University of Texas Southwest uses a 3-D printing lab to custom build radiotherapy boluses for specific patients. This example is a silicone bolus for cancer in the jaw. They 3-D printed the mold from the patient CT scan.
This is a quality assurance (QA) phantom used for commissioning of proton therapy systems. The IBA Blue Phantom PT helps speed the commissioning process by moving while constant dose measurements are taken, rather than starting and stopping with target movements to take measurements. The system was submitted to the U.S. FDA for clearance review.
This is a 3-D printed copper electron beam therapy aperture created by The Virtual Foundry for research at the University of Wisconsin. They are looking at the possibility of 3-D printing electron cutouts rather than machined cutouts to save time and costs. The university presented a poster on this project at AAPM 2019.
An example of a 3-D printed bolus made of tungsten created by The Virtual Foundry, which was showing samples to vendors at AAPM 2019. Despite being small, it was very heavy.
An example of a 3-D printed tungsten collimator made for Argonne National Lab by The Virtual Foundry, which was showing samples to vendors at AAPM 2019.
AAPM President Cynthia McCollough, Ph.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Computed Tomography (CT) Clinical Innovation Center, called attention in her president's address to the subconscious bias people have in medical physics and other medical specialties. This includes biases people harbor toward women, immigrants, religious groups and even between the different age groups, ranging from baby boomers to millennials. Hear more in the VIDEO: Bridging Diversity in Medical Physics to Improve Patient Care.
AAPM President Cynthia McCollough, Ph.D, showed a slide of the AAPM membership makeup by generation and said everyone needs to keep in mind the way they think and communicate varies by our life experience and upbringing, so understanding can help bridge gaps in communication. She explained that Generation X and Millennials do not seem to cooperate well, but it is a perception mainly due to each group thinking differently. Hear more in the VIDEO: Bridging Diversity in Medical Physics to Improve Patient Care.
The Zap-X stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) brain radiotherapy system is completely self-shielded, eliminating the need for a concrete vault. The goal of the system is to expand SRS brain therapy by making it easier to access and less expensive by eliminating the large expense of custom-built vaults to house the system. Learn more in the VIDEO: Use of a Fully Self-contained Brain Radiotherapy System.
This is a prostate brachytherapy seed holder designed to deflect radiation emitted from the seeds to reduce the dose received to the physician’s hands. The Advantage Cartridge system from IsoAid was shown on the expo floor today at the 2019 American Association Of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting. The device holds 15 brachytherapy seeds.
This is a prostate brachytherapy seed holder designed to deflect radiation emitted from the seeds to reduce the dose received to the physician’s hands. The Advantage Cartridge system from IsoAid was shown on the expo floor today at the 2019 American Association Of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting. The device holds 15 brachytherapy seeds.
MD Anderson had a San Antonio Fiesta themed booth and photo booth with props for attendees to remember their visit to the AAPM meeting in San Antonio.
MD Anderson had a San Antonio Fiesta themed booth and photo booth with props for attendees to remember their visit to the AAPM meeting in San Antonio.
Ehsan Samei, Ph.D., DABR, FAAPM, FSPIE, is director of the Duke University Clinical Imaging Physics Group, and is heavily involved in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) MedPhy 3.0 program. It is looking to redefine the role of medical physicists as technology and automation of many complex tasks take over increasing amounts of what they do. This year at the 2019 AAPM meeting, he is presenting on a new 3.0 international initiative to include more international physicists on the discussion.
ITN Editor Dave Fornell ran into Mahadevappa Mahesh, Ph.D., FAAPM, FACR, FACMP, FSCCT, professor of radiology and cardiology and chief physicist at Johns Hopkins, at the 2019 American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting. He also serves as treasurer for the AAPM. He expalins details on this year's meeting in the VIDEO: Trends in Medical Physics at the AAPM 2019 meeting.
This is a fully automated machine learning created treatment plan for prostate cancer. It was a new product offering by Raysearch. Learn more about the first clinical use in the VIDEO: Use of Machine Learning to Automate Radiotherapy Treatment Planning.
This is a fully automated machine learning created treatment plan for prostate cancer. It was a new product offering by Raysearch. Learn more about the first clinical use in the VIDEO: Use of Machine Learning to Automate Radiotherapy Treatment Planning.
AAPM President Cynthia McCollough, Ph.D., and ITN Editor Dave Fornell conducted two video interviews at AAPM2019, VIDEO: Bridging Diversity in Medical Physics to Improve Patient Care. and VIDEO: New Advances in CT Imaging Technology.
This is an example of artificial intelligence being used to automatically identify and contour anatomical structures for radiation therapy with the Mirada DLCExpert software. This example shows OAR Space hydrogel (outlined in blue) injected to create space between the prostate and the rectum to prevent damage to that radiation sensitive structure. The gel is hard to identify on the CT scan because it looks like part of the rectum or prostate. But the software has been trained to identify it when present. Watch an example of this tech in the VIDEO: Artificial Intelligence Automatic Contouring and Segmentation For Radiotherapy.
This is an example of a deep learning autocontouring for treatment planning systems offered by Mirada. This was created without any human intervention. The DLCExpert was cleared by the FDA in July 2018 and was first shown at ASTRO 2018. It automatically identifies anatomical structures and contours them to save time. This file is vendor neutral and can be imported into any vendor’s treatment planning system.
The Varian Identify image-guided patient positioning system uses similar technology to help align patients on the radiotherapy system treatment table to match the position they were in when the CT scan was created. This ensures the radiation beams are delivered according to the treatment plan and will not be aimed accidentally at healthy tissue. See more in the VIDEO: Walk Around of a Varian Identify Image-guided Patient Positioning System.
The Varian Identify image-guided patient positioning system uses similar technology to help align patients on the radiotherapy system treatment table to match the position they were in when the CT scan was created. This ensures the radiation beams are delivered according to the treatment plan and will not be aimed accidentally at healthy tissue. See more in the VIDEO: Walk Around of a Varian Identify Image-guided Patient Positioning System.
This is an example of the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system's MCO Tradeoff Exploration software. If a plan has a lot of conflicts between beam lines and organs of interest in a plan that has no ideal solutions, the software allows the user to look at different treatment plan options so they can decide which are the best trade offs.
This is an example of the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system's MCO Tradeoff Exploration software. If a plan has a lot of conflicts between beam lines and organs of interest in a plan that has no ideal solutions, the software allows the user to look at different treatment plan options so they can decide which are the best trade offs.
This is an example of the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system's MCO Tradeoff Exploration software. If a plan has a lot of conflicts between beam lines and organs of interest in a plan that has no ideal solutions, the software allows the user to look at different treatment plan options so they can decide which are the best trade offs.
AAPM has converted from paper to digital poster session. Attendees used large touch screens to pick posters by topic or authors.
Brent Parker, Ph.D., DABR, professor of radiation physics and medical physicist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains how the AAPM is creating guidelines to better define the roles of non-physicist assistants. He said there is a lack of state regulatory oversight for medical physicists or their assistants, partly because there are no guidelines from the medical societies. Parker said the goal is to give state regulators the the definitions needed to create oversight guidelines. Learn more in the VIDEO: Efforts to Define the Roles of Medical Physicists and Assistants for Regulators.
A new alpha radiation brachytherapy seed, the Alpha DaRT Technology, may offer advantages over conventional brachytherapy, said medical physicist Lior Arazi, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, who is helping with development. He presented on a new radium-224 seed that offers short-lived, high-dose alpha particles to kill cancer cells in the milli-Curie range as opposed to micro-Curies. Learn more in the VIDEO: New Alpha Emitter Brachytherapy Seeds in Development.
This is a photo essay of the new radiation oncology and medical physics technologies on the expo floor and discussed in sessions at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 annual meeting. Each photo has its own caption explaining the image in detail.
Read an overview article about the conference "New Radiotherapy and Medical Physics Technology at AAPM 2019."
Find more news and videos from the AAPM meeting
