Treatment Planning in Radiation Oncology » (2nd Edition)

Khan, Faiz M., PhD (Univ of Minnesota); Potish, Roger A., MD (Univ of Minnesota)

The contributors represent the specialties of radiation oncology, radiology and cellular oncology, medical physics, radiation physics, and radiotherapy. Most are from universites and academic medical centers in the U.S., with one from Canada. Institutions prominently represented include Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Wake Forest Univ, Univ of Florida, Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Oregon Health Sciences Univ.

Completely updated for its Second Edition, this text is a comprehensive guide to state-of-the-art treatment planning techniques in radiation oncology. The book provides the treatment planning team—radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and medical dosimetrists—with detailed information on both the physics of radiation treatment planning and the clinical aspects of radiotherapy for specific cancers. More than 600 illustrations provide practical examples of the methodologies.

Brand-new chapters in this edition cover image-guided radiation therapy, high dose rate brachytherapy, and brachytherapy treatment planning algorithms. The chapters have been completely updated, particularly in areas including intensity-modulated radiation therapy and brachytherapy.

Geoffrey S. Ibbott

This book, accurately depicted by the title, addresses treatment planning for radiation therapy patients and describes the underlying physics of radiation interactions, computational methods of determining dose distributions, and clinical treatment planning procedures for a number of tumor sites. This review of treatment planning methodologies and the techniques and procedures for delivering radiation therapy is one of a number of books addressing aspects of treatment planning. As one of the most recent, this book describes a comprehensive array of modern techniques in great detail. The contributors have described the state-of-the-art of treatment planning, from a brief review of the history to a presentation of cutting-edge technology. The editors intend the book to be directed to radiation oncologists, physicists, and dosimetrists, and believe it addresses the needs of students as well as experienced practitioners. Some chapters are written at a level more suitable for graduate students and experienced clinicians. The contributing authors are all recognized experts and have supplied well-written, understandable chapters addressing each topic. Illustrations are numerous and are used effectively. The editors have drawn from current literature and most chapters are amply referenced. The text layout and fonts chosen are, for the most part, pleasing and clear. Color versions of some illustrations show information clearly, but appear together at the front of the book, without captions. The book is not intended as a stand-alone text for training students of radiation oncology, physics, or dosimetry. It contains no problems and very few examples of calculation techniques. It is anexcellent adjunct to existing texts and describes state-of-the-art procedures and techniques. Clinical methods are described comprehensively and the examples presented are appropriate and illustrative. The book will be a valuable complement to existing texts used in most training programs, and an excellent reference for the experienced practitioner.