The Sussex Cancer Fund was delighted to deliver the latest copy of Practical Radiotherapy Planning by Ann Barrett, Stephen Morris, Jane Dobbs and Tom Roques. We asked Tony Hewines, Senior Radiotherapy Dosimetrist, how they would use an up to date reference book such as this.
How this book is used by Tony
“Our team is Radiotherapy physics planning, also known as dosimetry. Our job is to create the radiotherapy plans that are used by radiographers to treat the patients. The clinicians will draw on a CT scan the area to be treated and then prescribe a dose to that area. Our task is to then to work out which beams to use, the direction of beams and how long they are on for, etc. to create the required dose in the correct place in the body. We use specialist planning software that is able to calculate and display where the dose being absorbed to do this. By looking at the pattern of absorbed dose we can then make changes to beams to achieve optimal sparing of normal tissue (so reducing toxicity and side effects) and maximum dose cover to the target, as prescribed by the Doctor.
The book gives details of accepted best approaches to designing a set of beams to do this. Different body treatment sites have different challenges due to the critical organs that are likely to be adjacent to the areas being treated, how to best avoid these critical organs is key to deciding on a particular beam set. The Practical Radiotherapy Planning book looks at these areas site by site, as well as aspects of beam arrangements it discusses different planning techniques, tolerance of normal organs to radiotherapy, safe positioning of patients for treatment and standard prescriptions used by Doctors.
In practice, our centre has devised a set of local protocols that we generally adhere to for radiotherapy planning but they have their roots in the information given in this and other publications and research texts. And there are always unusual situations where guidance is useful. It’s also a bit of a go-to text for those new to radiotherapy planning, from dosimetrists to Doctors, giving a good cover of radiotherapy planning basics. “
The SCF Book Fund
We have a dedicated book fund that is set aside specifically for these kinds of purchases. The Book Fund was set up by John Kent who used to be Lead dosimetrist at the Sussex Cancer Centre and during his time in the role his grandmother died and he chose to donate some of his inheritance to the Sussex Cancer Fund to be used for book purchases.
If you would like to contribute to our book fund and further increase the reference library please get in touch.
