From the December 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Their study sought to determine whether vertical off-centering during CT simulation of accelerated partial breast irradiation influences breast dose. Using an adult anthropomorphic phantom, the researchers placed thermoluminescent dosimeters in various locations and depths in a phantom’s breast tissue. The study concluded that limiting CT simulation procedures in favor of nonionizing imaging studies, such as ultrasonography, and proper CT optimization that includes properly centering patients, can reduce radiation dose to breast tissue.
ASTRO Gold Medal
ASTRO’s Gold Medal, first awarded in 1977, is bestowed annually on up to three ASTRO members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of radiation oncology, including work in research, clinical care, teaching and service. Including this year’s awardees, only 78 of ASTRO’s more than 10,000 members have received the Gold Medal award. Candidates must be nominated by one active member of ASTRO and receive letters of support from two additional active members of ASTRO, detailing the nominee’s impact on the advancement of radiation oncology. Nominees may be from any of the scientific disciplines represented in ASTRO, including radiation oncology, biology and physics.
Dr. Benedick A. Fraass, Ph.D., FASTRO, has dedicated his career to advancing the science of radiation treatment planning and delivery, with accomplishments that include developing three-dimensional treatment planning for routine clinical use, validating advanced uses of computer-controlled radiotherapy and optimizing planning and delivery systems that allow more conformal and dose-escalated radiation doses while reducing the impact on nearby healthy tissue. Fraass serves as vice-chair for research as well as professor and director of medical physics in the department of radiation oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He also holds an appointment as health sciences professor in the department of radiation oncology at the University of California Los Angeles. Before moving to the West Coast, Fraass spent 27 years at the University of Michigan, where he led the radiation oncology department’s physics group and helped to create and then elevate the program to national prominence. Fraass was named the inaugural Allen S. Lichter Professor of Radiation Oncology at Michigan and remains an emeritus professor with the program.
