Main description:

- Summarizes the state of the art in the most relevant areas of medical physics and

engineering applied to radiation oncology

- Covers all relevant areas of the subject in detail, including 3D imaging and image

processing, 3D treatment planning, modern treatment techniques, patient

positioning, and aspects of verification and quality assurance

- Conveys information in a readily understandable way that will appeal to

professionals and students with a medical background as well as to newcomers to

radiation oncology from the field of physics

Contents:

New Technologies in Radio-Oncology: Introduction and Overview.- Basics of 3D Medical Imaging: 3D Reconstruction.- Processing and Segmentation of 3D Images.- 3D Visualization.- Image Registration and Data Fusion for Radiotherapy Planning.- Networking, Data Formats and Archieving.- 3D Imaging for Radiotherapy: Clinical X-Ray Computed Tomography.- 4D Imaging and Treatment Planning.- MRI for Radiotherapy Planning.- Potential of MRS for Radiotherapy Planning.- PET and PET/CT for Radiotherapy Planning.- Patient Positioning in Radiotherapy Using Optical Guided 3D-Ultrasound Techniques.- 3D Treatment Planning for Conformal Radiotherapy: External Therapy: Definition of Target Volumes and Organs at Risk.- Virtual Therapy Simulation.-Dose Calculation Algorithms.- Monte Carlo Dose Calculation for Treatment Planning.-Optimization of Treatment Plans, Inverse Planning.- Biological Models in Treatment Planning.- Brachytherapy Planning: 2D and 3D Planning in Brachytherapy.- New Treatment Techniques: Beam Delivery in 3D Conformal X-Ray Therapy.- Stereotactic Radiotherapy.- X-IMRT.- Control of Breathing Motion: Techniques and Models (Gated Radiotherapy).- Image-Guided/Adaptive Radiotherapy.- Predictive Compensation of Breathing Motion in Lung Cancer Radiosurgery.- Proton Therapy.- Heavy Ion Therapy.- Brachytherapy: Permanent Brachytherapy in Prostate Cancer.- Vascular Brachytherapy.- Partial Breast Brachytherapy After Conservative Surgery for Early Breast Cancer: Techniques and Results.- Verification and QA: 3D QA Systems.- QM in Radiotherapy.- Subject Index.- List of Contributors