Teaching Course on IMRT / IGRT

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Contents

During the last decades, progress in radiotherapy is characterized by physical and technical innovations enabling 3D conformal radiotherapy and a more and more precise delivery of radiation. Two important developments have been achieved in this context:

• Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) allowing conformal treatment of also very complex shaped target volumes, and
• Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) as the basis for precise dose delivery, also for those cases where the target volume is changing position or shape from day to day or even during irradiation.

The German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg (dkfz) and the department of radiotherapy of the University clinic have a nearly 30 years history in developing and implementing new techniques for high precision radiotherapy. They were among the pioneers to develop IMRT and IGRT.

The two departments have been organizing teaching courses on IMRT and IGRT in collaboration with Siemens OCS and the Institute of Cancer Research/ Royal Marsden Hospital in London for 10 years. The aim of this IMRT/IGRT course is to give an introduction into the scientific basis of IMRT and IGRT and the technical aspects of treatment delivery, including the practical implementation of inverse planning and the latest developments. The course also includes lectures and practical sessions on quality assurance of the various procedures and on clinical aspects of IMRT and IGRT. The course is aimed at radiation oncologists and physicists involved in the implementation of advanced IMRT/IGRT-techniques in their department. Basic knowledge of radiation oncology and radiation physics is required. We encourage the simultaneous participation of a physicist and a clinician from the same clinic.