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Medical Physics Education
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WHAT IS A MEDICAL PHYSICIST? Just 20 years ago, many of the cures we consider common would have been miraculous. Much of our success comes from the sophistication of science and technology. While radiation has been used for more than 100 years, today’s pinpoint accuracy increases your chances of survival many times. The person bringing this technical sophistication to your radiation treatment is the Medical Physicist. This scientist works with the linear accelerator or radiation sources which make the radiation – the medicine of your treatment! Without the knowledge and skills of the Medical Physicist, the machine could miss the target or deliver the wrong dosage, limiting your ability to heal. Only a ten percent error in dose can double your chance of disease recurrence. Accuracy is essential so that your radiation therapy may relieve your pain, control your tumor and possibly save your life. Medical physics is one of our most precise health sciences.
TREATMENT WITH PRECISE EQUIPMENT The medical physicist started to work for you even before you became a patient. This scientist spent weeks preparing the complex equipment for treatment by measuring and analyzing the radiation coming from your treatment machine. He entered this information into a special high speed computer used for planning your treatments. All of this was done before a single patient could be treated. He personally checked your treatment machine to make sure it would not miss the target or deliver the wrong amount of radiation dosage; and he continually monitors the accuracy of the equipment while your are being treated. These behind the scenes activities are part of the quality assurance measures undertaken by this skilled scientist on behalf of you and every patient. Such activities are essential for delivering the correct amount of radiation prescribed by your radiation oncologist to treat your disease.
THE TECHNICAL PLAN FOR YOUR TREATMENT The medical physicist also manages the technical planning of your treatment. He is responsible for supervising the work of highly trained individuals who assist him in many tasks related to radiation dosimetry. These skilled assistants are Medical Dosimetrists. They usually run the computers containing the radiation data measured by the Medical Physicist. In preparing your treatment, the configuration of your body as shown on X-ray films or CT scans is fed into the planning computer. This allows your personal anatomy to be combined with the radiation beams of your treatment machine. The computer calculations produce a picture of your body and the distribution of radiation inside it. This process permits the radiation beams to be tailored specifically to the treatment site intended by the radiation oncologist. This precision in your treatment will maximize the effect on your diseased area while minimizing the damage to healthy tissue.
SPECIAL PROCEDURES Many procedures carried out in the typical radiation oncology clinic do not require that you meet the medical physicist directly. However, some procedures may involve a level of complexity that demands the immediate skills and judgment of the trained medical physicist. These "special" procedures are usually carried out by the medical physicist himself, or under his direct supervision. Some of these special procedures are described briefly.
Brachytherapy Brachytherapy places radioactive sources into the body to fight certain cancers. The medical physicist oversees the tasks that determine the placement, strength, and length of time for the implanted radiation sources to deliver the dose prescribed by the radiation oncologist. Sometimes the implanted radioactive materials are implanted permanently in your body – for example, radioactive seed implants of the prostate gland. Other times the radioactive sources may be in for a few days – for example, treatment of gynecological cancers or the treatment of small melanoma tumors inside the eye using radioactive plaques. Another mode of brachytherapy, called high dose rate (HDR), uses a small but extremely intense, radioactive source to deliver the treatment in minutes under computer control. Due to the critical nature of HDR treatments, federal and state regulations require the presence of a medical physicist during the HDR procedure.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) Stereotactic radiosurgery is a precise and accurate method that aims many small beams of radiation from a linear accelerator or special cobalt unit at brain tumors. This is done without opening the skull. Using a special three dimensional (3D) treatment planning computer, the medical physicist calculates the multiple paths the radiation beams take through the patient’s brain and produces a picture of the dose distribution inside the brain for evaluation by the radiation oncologist. Once a plan is deemed acceptable by the radiation oncologist, the medical physicist supervises the technical aspects of the radiosurgery treatment procedure.
Total Body Irradiation (TBI) Total body irradiation is often used in bone marrow transplantation. This procedure may be considered as a radiation x-ray bath and aids in the transplant process. In this procedure the physicist must carefully take into account the patent’s thickness, size, shape, and treatment position. This information is used by the physicist to design custom shielding to protect vital organs, and to determine how long the beam should remain "on" to deliver the dose prescribed by your radiation oncologist.
KNOW THE QUALIFICATIONS OF YOUR MEDICAL PHYSICIST It is important that your radiation treatment is planned and delivered under the care of a qualified medical physicist. All of these specialists should have completed the requirements for a master’s degree; many have earned doctorates. To be qualified, they must be certified by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) or the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP), and must have at least three years of specialty training. To check the credentials of your ABR certified medical physicist, call 1-800-776-CERT; for ABMP, call (309) 343-1202.
A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL As part of your treatment team, the medical physicist is just as concerned with your treatments as your physicians. This professional works closely with your medical doctors to give you the highest quality of care. If you have any questions regarding radiation or the sophisticated equipment used in your treatment, please ask your medical physicist. This highly trained medical specialist is already working for your health. The goal of your medical physicist is your goal – for you to feel your best.
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