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The top 10 papers
With over 1100 abstracts submitted for presentation at this year’s AAPM meeting, the reviewers had their work cut out picking the best of the bunch. Authors of the top ten abstracts, detailed below, were rewarded with extended time slots in which to present their findings. If you’re heading to Minneapolis next week, be sure to check out some of the following:
- Plan space modelling and decision support system for multi-plan IMRT framework W. D’Souza et al. The authors present an IMRT treatment-planning framework in which multiple plans with differing input constraints are generated per patient. They also describe the decision support system used to help evaluate these sets of plans.
- Effect of a biologically-based prescription function in IMRT dose optimization S. Bowen et al. Delivering heterogeneous dose distributions based on biological image data is reliant upon the transformations used to map that data to the dose prescription values. This presentation discusses the feasibility of four possible image-to-dose-prescription transformations.
- Multiplexing radiography for ultra-fast computed tomography: a feasibility study J. Zhang et al. This work demonstrates the feasibility of multiplexing radiography, in which simultaneous collection of multiple X-ray projection images can significantly increase the speed of CT scanning.
- Development of a linac-MRI system for real-time ART B. Fallone et al. Coupling an MRI system to a linac enables real-time tracking of the tumour and surrounding healthy tissues during treatment. The authors of this paper show that such a design is practical, viable and realizable within a reasonable time frame.
- Assessment of the radiation shielding for a busy PET/CT facility S. Kappadath and R. E. Wendt III. This presentation describes a study to verify the adequacy of radiation shielding installed in a PET/CT facility. The authors also examine the validity of the computer program used to design the shielding.
- Cellular response to modulated radiation fields E. Claridge et al. The researchers reveal the results of in vitro experiments investigating cell survival following exposure to spatially-modulated beams, as created by intensity-modulated radiotherapy.
- Breast CT with energy resolved detection P. Shikhaliev. A breast CT system with energy-resolved X-ray detection and scanning multislit data acquisition shows potential to deliver improved sensitivity and specificity.
- A proposal for a novel compact intensity modulated proton therapy system using a dielectric wall accelerator T. Mackie et al. The authors present a compact, CT-guided intensity-modulated proton therapy system. The instrument, which is said to be ideal for large and complex target volumes in young patients, is designed to be housed in a conventional linac vault.
- Automated stereotactic radiosurgery quality assurance using a portal imager M. Mamalui-Hunter et al. This presentation details an automated portal-vision-based quality assurance scheme that could replace the labour-intensive manual processes currently used to ensure collimator alignment prior to stereotactic radiosurgery.
- Comparison of mammographic percent density and volumetric percent density determined from ultrasound tomography images C. Glide et al. The researchers describe the use of volumetric ultrasound percent density (USPD) for estimation of breast density. Their results show that USPD can provide a non-ionizing analysis of breast density, a known risk factor for breast cancer.
