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Main Page Contact Francisco Duque, 912.961.3173 For Immediate Release
Grant Supports Cancer Treatment Research at AASU(Savannah, GA, November 12, 2007) A $30,000 grant from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research and Education Foundation will allow an Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) professor to continue developing a comprehensive web-based software system for radiation therapy treatment and training. Felix Hamza-Lup and undergraduate student assistant Ivan Sopin in the Department of Computer Science at AASU's School of Computing, and Omar Zeidan, a radiation therapy physicist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando, are conducting the research. Memorial Health University Medical Center is a collaborator in the research. The three-dimensional radiation therapy treatment (3DRTT, www.3drtt.org) is a real-time web based graphical simulator for radiation therapy linear accelerators. While radiation therapy is highly effective in the treatment of cancer, its ultimate benefit depends on the skills of the medical personnel who deliver the treatment. One of the key features of the 3DRTT system is automatic collision detection. The risks of having the machine collide with a patient or other equipment during treatment has vexed doctors and technicians over the years. The web-based interface prevents collisions by simulating the motion of the components during the treatment planning phase. The simulator helps healthcare personnel to develop optimal collision-free treatment plans that are patient-specific. "We have developed a real-time 3D graphical simulator for external beam radiation therapy systems that has the potential to improve the radiation planning and treatment processes," said Hamza-Lup. "Our collaboration with hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and other departments at AASU has spawn important multidisciplinary research directions, laying out the foundation for the innovations of the future. Involving undergraduate and graduate students as a team in the research process has increased their interest and expertise in computer, engineering, and health sciences," he said. The simulator has a dual purpose. First, it improves the accuracy and efficiency of radiation treatment planning and delivery by providing accurate 3D visualization of hardware components and their relative motion. In combination with patient computed tomography (CT) data, physicians can virtually simulate patient-specific treatment scenarios. Second, 3DRTT can be used as a learning tool in existing radiation therapy courses by offering three-dimensional content, simulation of concepts, and treatment scenarios for novice therapy staff, physicians and students. The rationale for such use is that current training is conducted in hospital settings and students have limited access to the machines. In the past, training has resulted in collisions and near misses. A collision may damage a machine worth millions of dollars, or worse, injure a patient. The 3DRTT simulator has the potential to solve these issues. Among the current users of the 3DRTT web-based simulator are doctors from Johns Hopkins University, as well as several international cancer treatment facilities. Staff members at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center will adopt the software in the treatment cycle in the near future. Students in the Department of Radiologic Sciences in AASU's College of Health Professions are gradually incorporating the simulator into their training. "They are using it to learn how the radiation rays interact with the patients," said Lee Braswell, program coordinator in the Department of Radiologic Sciences. Hamza-Lup and student assistant Sopin published an article about the simulator in the July 2007 issue of Advance Newsmagazine, a publication for imaging and oncology administrators reaching more than 1.7 million subscribers worldwide. |
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