Safe, Accurate and Precise Spine Stereotactic Radiotherapy in Clinical Practice

PhD final Presentation By Simon Goodall Title: Safe, Accurate and Precise Spine Stereotactic Radiotherapy in Clinical Practice Summary: Spine stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) enables the delivery of highly conformal, dose-escalated treatments to spinal targets; however, it places stringent requirements on the accuracy and precision of both dose calculation and treatment delivery, necessitating appropriately robust quality assurance processes. This presentation summarises a body of clinically focused research evaluating the safe implementation of spine SBRT within a modern multi-department radiotherapy network employing matched Elekta linear accelerators. The work examines the influence of Monte Carlo dose calculation parameters on the precision and stability of clinical treatment plans, establishes correction methodologies for the commissioning and patient-specific quality assurance of small stereotactic fields, and evaluates the feasibility of performing distributed patient-specific quality assurance across matched linear accelerator fleets. In addition, the development and application of a bespoke three-dimensional printed spine phantom is presented, together with its use in the experimental evaluation of the dosimetric and imaging effects of titanium and carbon fibre-reinforced spinal stabilisation implants. Collectively, this work provides evidence-based guidance to support the accurate, efficient, and reliable delivery of spine SBRT in contemporary clinical practice. ========================= For more information about UWA Medical Physics vist our: Website: https://www.uwamedicalphysics.org Weblog: http://www.uwamedicalphysics.com Facebook:   / groups   Instagram:   / uwa_medical_physics   LinkedIn:   / medical-physics-uwa-11979b379   Twitter: @MedicalUwa YouTube Channel:    / @medicalphysicsuwa   =========================