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Posts by: Tami Freeman
Proton therapy: the benefits and the challenges
By Tami Freeman
Proton therapy is an increasingly popular treatment technique that uses beams of protons to accurately target and destroy cancerous tumours. A new Physics World Discovery ebook, Proton Beam Therapy, takes a close look at the physics of this cancer treatment, its benefits and the challenges associated with bringing this approach into the clinical mainstream.
The ebook is written by Harald Paganetti, director of physics research at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. He is a pioneer in advanced Monte Carlo dose calculations for proton therapy, and is considered the world expert on the relative biological effectiveness of proton beams.
In the last few decades, proton therapy has transitioned from research laboratories into the clinical setting – making this publication particularly timely. There are currently around 60 proton therapy facilities worldwide, and this number is increasing rapidly. “Proton therapy is becoming a standard treatment option but there are still many challenges in terms of the physics, biology and clinical use of protons, which are summarized in this ebook,” Paganetti explains.
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Physics World 2015 Focus on Medical Imaging now live
By Tami Freeman
Medical imaging is a multidisciplinary science encompassing a wide range of powerful techniques with applications in both patient care and fundamental biological studies. In this latest Physics World focus issue, we examine how imaging technologies such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and other nuclear, ultrasound and optical imaging techniques have evolved in recent years. We also take a look at what improvements can be expected in the future.
Created in collaboration with our sister website medicalphysicsweb, the new focus issue on medical imaging can be accessed free of charge in digital-magazine format.
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Physics World 2013 Focus on Medical Imaging is out now
By Tami Freeman
Physics World Focus on Medical Imaging.
Imaging plays a major role in a vast range of medical applications – from scanning patients for signs of disease, to guiding radiation treatments, to studying small animals in the quest to develop new drugs. And, as you’ll read in this latest Physics World focus issue, it is even being used to investigate how neural networks develop in babies’ brains before and just after birth.
Created in collaboration with our sister website medicalphysicsweb.org, the new focus issue on medical imaging can be accessed free of charge in digital-magazine format.
Here’s a quick guide to what you can find in the focus issue on medical imaging:
• What goes on in babies’ brains? – How the latest magnetic-resonance-imaging techniques are being used to map brain connections in babies
• Nuclear-medicine techniques address small-animal imaging – Advances in high-performance molecular imaging
• OCT lines up for dermatology – Why the future is bright for optical coherence tomography in dermatology
• MRI enhances radiation treatment – Four research teams are working to create radiotherapy systems guided by magnetic resonance imaging
• Luminescence tracks oxygenation – Radiometric luminescence imaging could provide non-invasive monitoring of oxygen levels in tissues
There’s also a selection of research and industry news, as well as video interviews with some of the leading experts in the field.
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The Lancet highlights role of physics in medicine
By Tami Freeman, editor of medicalphysicsweb
Since the birth of medicine 5000 years ago, physics has played a fundamental role in the development of health technologies. Significant contributions to today’s medical methods range from the application of numerous imaging techniques to diagnosis and patient screening, to the wide variety of treatment techniques made possible by the discovery of radiation and radioactivity.
For their part, medical physicists have a particularly important role to play, both in the discovery of new diagnostic and treatment techniques, and in ensuring the safe and effective implementation of new physics-based medical applications.
In recognition of these facts, the medical journal The Lancet has just published its Physics and Medicine Series, a set of five articles and two comments that highlight the many ways in which physics has revolutionized medical practice. The series, published to coincide with the anniversary of Albert Einstein’s death, calls for medical physics to be promoted as a career choice and recognized as a vocational discipline.
Writing in one of the associated comment articles, Peter Knight (right), president of the Institute of Physics – which publishes physicsworld.com – discusses the “long and happy marriage between physics and medicine”, and puts forward two proposals to keep this relationship thriving in the future.
First is the continued need to support and invest in the physical sciences. Knight notes that most, if not all, of the physics-based techniques and technologies described in the series derive from the discoveries of basic physics research that was undertaken purely to investigate the nature of our world and expand the frontiers of knowledge.
For example, the understanding and manipulation of radiation was made possible by basic research into the structure and evolution of the universe and the building blocks of matter. Knight urges the UK government and other funders to recognize that continued support for that research will deliver corresponding advances in medical technologies in the years to come.
Second, for medical practitioners to fully exploit modern physics-based technologies, it would be hugely beneficial for them to have a sound understanding of the physics involved. As such, Knight suggests that medical schools should consider restoring the requirement for applicants to hold physics-oriented qualifications for entry into medicine.
Another recommendation arising from the series is for closer collaboration and integration between the physical and life sciences, via a new model in which multidisciplinary teams work closely in a shared research environment. Finally, there is a need for every school to aspire to provide high-quality physics education, to ensure a supply of talented scientists who can perform health-related physics research in the future.
“The Lancet‘s Physics and Medicine Series clearly shows the potential to diagnose and treat increasing numbers of patients, with increasing effectiveness, using physics-based techniques,” Knight concluded. “Understanding the physics that underpins these techniques would be a real advantage to medical practitioners, and to their patients.”
