Colloquium: 4D Monte Carlo Based Patient-Specific Dose Reconstruction of Radiation Therapy Delivery

Dr. Emily Heath

Department of Physics, Carleton University

Title: 4D Monte Carlo Based Patient-Specific Dose Reconstruction of Radiation Therapy Delivery

Abstract: Modern radiation therapy uses dynamically collimated beams of ionizing radiation to deliver a tightly focused radiation dose to the tumour. Respiration-induced organ motion can degrade the delivered dose potentially impacting the treatment effectiveness. There is a need for in-vivo dose verification tools to quantify the impact of respiratory motion on a patient-specific basis and evaluate the efficacy of motion-mitigation techniques.   A 4D Monte-Carlo based simulation tool which uses patient-specific motion and treatment information was developed to reconstruct the dose delivered in the presence of respiratory motion. The approach and results of the experimental validation of this tool will be presented, along with preliminary results of its application to a cohort of patients undergoing radiotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer.   

Bio: Dr. Heath obtained her PhD in Physics from McGill University. After a postdoc at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, she joined the Physics department at Ryerson University for 4 years. She moved to Carleton University in 2014 where she is part of the Carleton Laboratory for Radiotherapy Physics. Her areas of research include Monte Carlo simulation of radiation therapy delivery, modeling of motion and anatomical changes in radiation therapy as well as robust optimization for radiation therapy planning.