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Advances in TomoTherapy®/Radixact® Treatment and QA – Guidelines from TG-306

November 3, 2021

Since the publication of Task Group 148 in 2010, the TomoTherapy platform has undergone substantial development involving treatment delivery, image guidance, motion management, and treatment planning systems (TPS). New hardware and software capabilities have dramatically changed its delivery and planning characteristics. Task Group 306 was formed to provide guidance on the implementation, management, and quality assurance for these technological advances. In this session, the work of Task Group 306 will be presented. Changes to the TomoTherapy platform since 2010 and the impact on clinical delivery and QA practices, including QA tests and tolerance limits will be presented. 

Part 1: Updates on TomoTherapy Machine QA recommendation   
Part 2: Updates on Imaging, Treatment Planning and Patient Specific QA  

Quan Chen, Ph.D., FAAPM, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Dr. Quan Chen received his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. He started as a senior research physicist in TomoTherapy Inc. and was heavily involved in the development of technologies that become VOLO, and TomoEdge. He joined the University of Virginia in 2011 and is currently Associate Professor at University of Kentucky. Dr. Chen has authored and co-authored 70+ peer-reviewed journal articles, two book chapters, and 9 patents. He has also received NIH SBIR support to develop AI solutions for radiation therapy. Dr. Chen currently serves on several committees, task groups and working groups at AAPM and NRG. He serves as an Associate editor for Medical Physics and JACMP as well as as grant reviewer for NIH study sections and other funding organizations. 

X. Sharon Qi, Ph.D., DABR, FAAPM, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 
Dr. Qi is a board-certified medical physicist and an associate professor in the department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA School of Medicine. She has been working with TomoTherapy since 2004 and has been the lead physicist for TomoTherapy program at UCLA radiation oncology since 2012. She has developed extensive experience with TomoTherapy in the aspects of clinical operation but also research. Dr. Qi is a member of AAPM Task Group 306, and a co-author of the task group repot on TomoTherapy QA updates.

Dr. Qi has authored and co-authored 90+ peer-reviewed journal articles, 4 book chapters, and 150+ abstracts. She has been awarded research grants and a PI or co-investigator for several clinical trials. She serves at multiple national committees or working groups including ASTRO, AAPM, and NRG. She currently serves as a deputy editor for Medical Physics and an associate editor for JACMP.  

Moderated by: Michele Zeverino, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Switzerland
Michele Zeverino has worked as a medical physicist since 2013 after finishing his masters in medical physics from University of Turin, Italy. Presently, his main research focus lies within the automation of treatment planning process and Pareto optimization in particular for breast treatments. He has published more than 40 papers (h-index 14) on topics including total marrow irradiation, dosimetry in non-reference conditions, radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy. Michele has joined the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) since 2009 where recently he has also started his Ph.D.

Debra Freeman, M.D., Radiation Oncologist, CyberKnife Centers of Tampa Bay, FL

Dr. Freeman is a board-certified radiation oncologist actively practicing at the CyberKnife Centers of Tampa Bay.  She completed her undergraduate studies at Davidson College, NC and attended medical school, and completed her residency at University of Florida in Gainesville, FL.  She served as an assistant professor in the UF Department of Radiation Oncology from 1991-1995 where she specialized in breast cancer and prostate seed implants.  Dr. Freeman was an early adopter of the CyberKnife technology and introduced this system into Naples, FL in 2004.  Her program in Naples was the first community-based prostate cancer radiosurgery program in the United States.  Dr. Freeman was the co-founder of the Registry for Performance and Clinical Outcomes in Radiosurgery (RPCR), a platform to collect clinical outcomes data from prospective observational trials.  The RPCR collected and published outcomes data on 1,743 prostate cancer patients treated with SBRT and was instrumental in the widespread adoption of SBRT to treat prostate cancer.  Dr. Freeman has spoken nationally and internationally on radiation oncology topics and has published several peer-reviewed journal articles, most recently on prostate radiosurgery.