Course Report

Clinical Practice and Implementation of Image-Guided Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy - PDF Version

10 December 2020 – 9 February 2021, online

Course directors:

Matthias Guckenberger, radiation oncologist, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Dirk Verellen, medical physicist, Iridium Kankernetwerk (Iridium Cancer Network), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

A physicist’s perspective

Could you please briefly introduce yourself?

I am a medical physicist who works in New Zealand.

Why did you choose to attend this course?

To gain insight into stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) from experts in the field.

What aspects of the course were the most interesting and why?

SBRT for oligometastases and MR-guided SBRT, as these were topics that I was not very familiar with.

Did the course activities improve your knowledge and skills in the relevant subject?

Yes ‑ within each sub-site of SBRT, the key aspects were explained to a depth that gave me a good handle on them.

Did the course meet your expectations? If so, how?

Yes. I gained an understanding of what is involved in SBRT treatments for sites that we are not treating stereotactically as yet, as well as further insight into sites that we are currently treating.

List three important ‘takeaways’ following the course.

The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) 91 guidelines; the minimum number of fields/fractions that are needed for the interplay effect in lung SBRT; excellent references for further reading.

How will what you have learnt be implemented in your daily job/ clinical practice?

I am much better equipped to set up SBRT for oligometastases now.

How would you encourage someone who has never been to an ESTRO Course to join this course next year/ in two years?

This is a fantastic tour of SBRT from those at the forefront of research in this field; it’s an opportunity not to be missed!

Matthias Dessein
Medical physicist
Wellington Regional Hospital
Wellington, New Zealand