New at UCSD Radiation Oncology 2010

December 2010 Special delivery from Santa to Radiation Oncology Pediatric Patients There was a teddy bear delivery from Santa for pediatric patients who will be receiving radiation treatment throughout the year. One hundred teddy bears were brought to the Radition Oncology Pet/CT Center by members of a Self Realization Fellowship toy drive for distribution to our young patients. The teddy bears are wearing a special tag with a message and a place where patients or their parents may write the name of their teddy bear as it becomes a special companion during their treatment process: “ My name is ______________ I’m your little radiation buddy! Give me a hug! Remember to bring me to radiation each day. I’ll go with you to treatment and be there when you are done.”

November 2010 UCSD Radiation Oncology Medical Physics Residency Accredited We are excited to announce that the UCSD Radiation Oncology Medical Physics Residency Program has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Programs, Inc. (CAMPEP). Similar to the Rad Onc medical residency program, the Rad Onc medical physics residency program is the only training program of its kind in the San Diego area. The program director is Todd A. Pawlicki, Ph.D. The residency program has one position open for July 1, 2011. Applications are currently accepted until January 15, 2011. Additional information and updates about the program are available on the department website.

November 2010 UCSD Researcher Edits New Radiation Oncology Textbook Todd Pawlicki PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical Medical Physics, Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, and fellow co-editors Peter Dunscombe PhD (Canada) and Pierre Scalliet MD (Belgium) have published a new textbook entitled Quality and Safety in Radiotherapy.This textbook is the first and only comprehensive book on quality in radiation oncology and is comprised of 100 chapters contributed by 171 authors at 80 institutions in 16 countries. The book is divided into 7 parts: quality management and improvement, patient safety and managing error, methods to assure and improve quality, people and quality, quality assurance in radiotherapy, quality control (equipment), and quality control (patient-specific). This textbook is extremely timely and will quickly be recognized as the QA textbook in the field.

November 2010 UCSD Researcher Publishes New Clinical Practice Article Todd Pawlicki PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical Medical Physics, has published a new article in the journal Medical Dosimetry. Entitled “The new radiation therapy clinical practice: the emerging role of clinical peer review for radiation therapists and medical dosimetrists, “ this study analyzes the concept of peer review in the clinical setting for both radiotherapists and dosimetrists and reviews the causes of radiation therapy deviations. The results indicate that peer view can be both implemented and evaluated into both therapist and dosimetrists clinical practice patterns. Dr. Pawlicki’s research focus is on quality assurance (QA) in radiation oncology and he is the senior editor of the first comprehensive international QA textbook in radiotherapy entitled Quality and Safety in Radiation Oncology.

November 2010 UCSD Faculty Publish New Veterinary Clinical Trial Gregory Ogilvie DVM, recently proposed as Professor and Director of our new Division of Veterinary Oncology, has published a new study in the American Journal of Veterinary Research. Entitled “Evaluation of 12- and 24-month survival rates after treatment with masitinib in dogs with non-resectable mast cell tumors”, this study summarizes the results of a trial comparing masitinib versus placebo in 132 dogs with non-resectable mast cell tumors. A significant benefit was seen in survival rates at both 1 and 2 years. Short term response rates (at 6 weeks) did not correlate with long-term survival. Dr. Ogilvie is currently the Director of the Angel Care Cancer Center in Carlsbad and serves on the Clinical Advisory Board of the UCSD Veterinary Medical School. He is an author of 3 textbooks and over 200 scientific articles.

November 2010 UCSD Researchers Publish New Pediatric Radiosurgery Study Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher Sameer Nath MD and fellow UCSD faculty and researchers Ruben Carmona (Medical Student), Brent Rose MD, Daniel Simpson MD, Michelle Russell RN, Joshua Lawson MD, AJ Mundt and Kevin Murphy MD have published a new study in the journal Childs Nervous System. Entitled “Observed magnetic resonance imaging changes in pediatric patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery for intracranial tumors”, this study analyzed serial MRI studies of 12 children (21 lesions) treated with SRS for a variety of benign and malignant tumors. Lesion enlargement following SRS was common but many children meeting criteria for progressive disease on early followup imaging later achieved a complete response, demonstrating the importance of serial imaging prior to further medical or surgical interventions.

October 2010 CART Researchers Publish New GPU Study Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researchers Ruijiang Li PhD, Xun Jia PhD, John Lewis PhD, Xuejun Gu PhD, Michael Folkerts BS, Chenhua Men PhD and Steve Jiang PhD have published a new study in the journal Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention. Entitled “Single-projection based volumetric image reconstruction and 3D tumor localization in real-time for lung cancer radiotherapy”, this study demonstrates the ability to reconstruct volumetric images and localize lung tumors in 3D based on a single x-ray projection image in real time using a novel GPU approach. Ruijiang Li has recently joined the Physics Faculty in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University.John Lewis PhD is now on faculty at Harvard and Chunhua Med PhD is now an Optimization Research Scientist at CMS Elekta.

October 2010 UCSD Researchers Publishes Editorial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology Loren Mell MD, Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, and Jong Jeong PhD, have published an editorial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Entitled “Pitfalls of using composite primary end points in the presence of competing risks”, this editorial reviews the problems of using composite primary endpoints in clinical trials, particularly in the presence of competing risks. Competing risks analysis is a major research interest of Dr. Mell and is the subject of several of his recent publications. A biostatistician who collaborates on clinical trial design in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Dr. Jeong has recently been proposed for a faculty appointment at the Associate Professor level in our Department.

October 2010 UCSD Researchers Publish New Breast Cancer Study Aladar Szalay PhD and Nanhai Chen PhD and their fellow Genelux Researchers published a new breast cancer study in the journal Cancer Gene Therapy. Entitled “Enhanced tumor therapy using vaccinia virus strain GLV-1h68 in combination with a β-galactosidase activatable produrg seco-analog of duocarmycin SA”, this study demonstrates the potential utility of a genetically-engineered vaccinia virus in combination with a β-galactosidase activatable produrg in the treatment of breast cancer. This combination was found to induce apoptosis in cultures of human breast cancer cells, in which a synergistic oncolytic effect was observed

October 2010 CART Researchers Publish New Cervix IMRT Study Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Faculty and Researchers Brent Rose MD, Sameer Nath MD, Catheryn Yashar MD, AJ Mundt MD and Loren Mell MD, have published a new study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics. Entitled “Clinical outcomes of intensity modulated pelvic radiation therapy for carcinoma of the cervix”, this study summarizes the long-term outcome of over 100 cervical cancer patients treated with IMRT. High rate of tumor control were achieved with a low risk of acute and chronic toxicities. These results suggest that IMRT is the treatment of choice in these patients. Efforts at UCSD are focused now on augmenting these results using daily image-guidance and adaptive techniques.

October 2010
UCSD Faculty Publishes Letter in the Journal of Clinical Oncology
Ajay Sandhu MD Professor and Chief of the Genitourinary Cancer Service, published a letter to the editor in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Entitled “Pitfalls of retrospective and nonrandomized comparison of treatment modalities”, this letter discusses the various “pitfalls” in retrospective, non-randomized comparisons of different treatment modalities, in this case definitive IMRT and radical prostatectomy for early stage prostate cancer which was a subject of an outcome paper presented by Michael Zelefsky and colleagues from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

October 2010
CART Researchers Publish New GPU Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Post-doc Chenhua Men PhD and fellow CART researchers Xun Jia PhD and Steve Jiang PhD have published a new study in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “GPU-based ultra-fast direct aperture optimization for on-line adaptive radiation therapy”, this study presents the implementation of an IMRT direct aperture optimization algorithm using GPU based on their previous work using CPU. Using an NVIDIA Tesla C1060 GPU card, high quality treatment plans were generated in 0.7-2.8 seconds with this algorithm. This work solves a major problem in developing ultra-fast planning technologies and thus opens the door for the clinical implementation of on-line adaptive radiotherapy. Chenhua is now an Optimization Research Scientist at CMS Elekta.

October 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish New Breast Cancer Study
Loren Mell MD, Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, and new faculty member and biostatistician Jong Jeong PhD have published a new study in the journal Cancer. Entitled “Predictors of competing mortality in early breast cancer”, this study analyses a cohort of over 1200 women with early stage breast cancer and notes an association of the following factors with competing mortality: increasing age, black race and comorbid disease. These factors were then used to stratify patients into low and high risk groups. Stratifying patients according to competing mortality risk may be useful in the design of future clinical trials.


October 2010
UCSD Researcher Publish New Breast Cancer Brachytherapy Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Faculty Member Catheryn Yashar MD, Associate Professor and Chief of the Breast and Gynecologic Oncology Services, and Medical Physicist Daniel Scanderbeg PhD, have published a new breast cancer study the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics. Entitled “Initial clinical experience with the SAVI breast brachytherapy device for accelerated partial-breast irradiation: first 100 patients with more than 1 year follow-up”, this study is the first long-term study of outcomes in early stage breast cancer patients treated with the SAVI brachytherapy device. Overall, outcomes were excellent with low grade telangiectasias, hyperpigmentation and fibrosis seen in 1.9%, 9.8% and 1.9% of patients, respectively. With nearly 2 years of followup, the recurrence rate was only 1%. These results demonstrate the feasibility and promising results achieved using the SAVI brachytherapy device.


October 2010
CART Researcher Publishes 4DCT Lung Cancer Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher Tyler Watkins and fellow researchers Ruijiang Li PhD, Chunjoo Park (graduate student), Ajay Sandhu MD, Steve Jiang PhD, and William Song PhD, published a new 4DCT lung cancer study in the journal Medical Physics. Entitled “Patient specific motion artifacts in 4DCT”, this study evaluated the source and magnitude of projection artifacts due to intraphase target motion. The authors found that these motion artifacts are dependent on patient-specific tumor motion and CT gantry rotational speed. Understanding the source of such artifacts will help develop effective means of compensating for them. Tyler Watkins is now a physics graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Co-authors John Lewis PhD is now on faculty at Harvard and Ruijiang Li PhD is now on faculty at Stanford.


October 2010
CART Researcher Published New Lung Cancer Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Post-Doc Ruijiang Li PhD and fellow CART Researchers Xun Jia PhD, Xuejun Gu PhD, Michael Folkerts BS, and Steve Jiang PhD, published a new study in the journal Medical Physics. Entitled “Real-time volumetric image reconstruction and 3D tumor localization based on a single x-ray projection image for lung cancer radiotherapy”, the authors presents a novel algorithm for real-time volumetric reconstruction and 3D tumor localization based on a single x-ray image in patients with lung cancer. Implemented using a NVIDIA GPU card, the average reconstruction time was found to be 0.24 seconds (range, 0.17-0.35). Congratulations are also in order for Ruijiang Li has recently joined the Physics Faculty in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University. Co-authors on this study include two former CART members: John Lewis PhD (now on faculty at Harvard) and Chunhua Med PhD (now an Optimization Research Scientist at CMS Elekta).


October 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish Frameless Stereotactic Radiosurgery Study
Jia-Zhu Wang PhD, Professor in the Division of Clinical Medical Physics, and Department faculty members Roger Rice PhD, Todd Pawlicki PhD, Ajay Sandhu MD, AJ Mundt MD, Joshua Lawson MD and Kevin Murphy MD, have published a new study in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. Entitled “Evaluation of patient setup uncertainty of optically-guided frameless system for intracranial stereotactic radiosurgery”, this study presents a retrospective review of the positioning accuracy of patients treated in our department with optically-guided frameless stereotactic cranial radiosurgery. In the great majority (nearly 90%), the maximum setup error was < 2 mm. In the remainder with larger setup errors, patients were successfully repositioned using planar kV on-board imaging.


October 2010
UCSD Faculty Delivers a Lecture at the Annual ARRO Conference
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego. Dr. Mundt spoke on interviewing for an academic job as part of a career symposium. ARRO is the premiere organization of Radiation Oncology Residents in the United States.


October 2010
UCSD Researcher Publish a New Study on Bacterial Colonization of Tumors
Aladar Szalay PhD, Professor in the Division of Radiobiology and Biotechnologies, has published a new study on bacterial colonization of tumors in the International Journal of Medical Microbiology. Entitled “Enterobacterial tumor colonization in mice depends on bacterial metabolism and macrophages but is independent of chemotaxis and motility”, this study analyzed factors associated with tumor colonization by bacteria in the Enterobacteriacceae family. Unlike previously thought, tumor colonization was found to be largely a passive process dependent on metabolic properties of the bacteria not on chemotaxis and motility. Co-authors on this study were from multiple European institutions including the University of Wurzburg, University of Nottingham, University of Amsterdam, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich.


October 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish First Nationwide IGRT Survey
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) researcher and future resident Daniel Simpson MD and fellow department faculty and researchers Joshua Lawson MD, Sameer Nath MD, Brent Rose MD, AJ Mundt MD and Loren Mell MD, published a new IGRT paper in the journal Cancer. This study presents the results of a nationwide survey sent to 1600 American Radiation Oncologists regarding their use of in-room image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) technologies. Overall, 93.5% of respondents reported using some form of in-room image guidance in their clinics, although most reported using IGRT in the minority of their patients. Excluding MV EPID approaches, the percentage of radiation oncologists using in-room IGRT was still high (82%), with most users using either kV planar (58%) or volumetric (59%) techniques.


October 2010
UCSD Faculty Delivers Plenary Address at Varian User’s Meeting
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was the invited plenary speaker at the 2010 Varian User’s Meeting held at the ASTRO Meeting in San Diego. Dr. Mundt described the clinical and research possibilities of the new Varian TrueBeam Linear Accelerator and presented a Top Ten List highlighting the benefits of TrueBeam (developed by therapists Matt Taylor and Kristy Dillon) to an audience of over 700 attendees. UCSD is an early adopter of TrueBeam and is currently using this exciting new technology clinically and evaluating its potential future uses as part of a Master Research Agreement (MRA) between UCSD and Varian Oncology Systems.


October 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish New Lung Cancer Study
Ajay Sandhu MD, Professor and Chief of the Lung Cancer Service, and fellow UCSD Radiation Oncology faculty and staff Polly Nobiensky RN and Steve Seagren MD published a new lung cancer study in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology. Entitled “Hypofractionated radiotherapy as definitive treatment of stage I NSCLC in older patients”, this study presents a retrospective review of the outcomes of 75 elderly lung cancer patients treated at UCSD between 1991 and 2006 using a hypofractionated irradiation approach. Analysis of competing risks showed that at 5 years, the probability of local failure as the first detected event was 22.1%. These results demonstrate that hypofractionation is a reasonable approach in elderly patients and provide important comparison data for clinical trials focusing on more abbreviated regimens.


October 2010
UCSD Chancellor Awarded National Medal of Science
Marye Ann Fox PhD, UCSD Chancellor, was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama at the White House, along with 9 fellow awardees. The National Medal of Science is the highest honor awarded by the US government on the nation’s scientists. Dr. Fox, a chemist, was noted for her lifelong contributions to solar energy conservation, material science and environmental science. Other UC San Diego-affiliated winners of the Medal of Science include Margaret Burbidge, Michael H. Freedman, Yuan-Cheng Fung, Craig Venter, Andrew Viterbi and Walter Munk.


October 2010
UCSD Announces Partnership with Proton Health Partners
Building on a plan announced in September 2007, UC San Diego Health Sciences and the Department of Radiation Oncology announced an agreement with Proton Health Partners to plan, develop and operative the UC San Diego Proton Therapy and Research Center. The planning and development of this multi-room Proton Facility are nearing completion. The planned site for this facility is adjacent to the Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla.


October 2010
UCSD Faculty is a Visiting Professor at City of Hope
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Radiation Oncology of the City of Hope Cancer Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Mundt lectured to an audience of surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and medical physicists on the history and present status of image-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Mundt and his colleagues at UCSD, Catheryn Yashar MD and Loren MD, are pioneers in the use of novel radiation technologies in patients with cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies.


September 2010
UCSD Faculty Receives Service Award
Kevin Murphy, Associate Professor, Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Service, and Medical Director of the UCSD South Bay Radiation Oncology Treatment Facility was recently recognized by the United States-Mexico BiNational Emergency Medical Care Committee for his involvement in the care of pediatric cancer cases from San Diego and Mexico. Dr. Murphy works closely with pediatric medical oncologists and surgeons at Rady Children’s Hospital and has extensive experience in the treatment of children with all types of cancer.

September 2010
UCSD Faculty Speak at Columbia University Radiation Oncology Symposium
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was an invited lecturer at the 6th Annual Symposium on Target Delineation in Radiation Oncology sponsored by Columbia University Medical Center (see photo) and hosted by Clifford Chao MD (Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology Columbia) and Nancy Lee MD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). Dr. Mundt lectured on target delineation in patients with cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies. Dr. Mundt is a frequent invited lecturer at cancer symposia in the United States and internationally.


September 2010
UCSD Researcher is a Key Note Speaker in Japan, Korea and China
Steve Jiang PhD, Associate Professor, Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) and Director of the Division of Technology Research was the Key Note speaker at 3 prestigious medical physics conferences in East Asia, including annual meetings of the Chinese Society of Medical Physics, the Korean Society of Medical Physics and the Japanese Society of Medical Physics. Dr. Jiang spoke on a variety of topics including his recent work on high-speed computer approaches for on-line adaptive radiotherapy.


September 2010
UCSD Faculty is a Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was an Invited Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Mundt met with the faculty and residents and delivered a lecture on novel technologies in the treatment of cervical cancer, including IMRT and Image-Guided Radiotherapy. Dr. Mundt pioneered the use of IMRT in the treatment of cervical cancer and along with fellow faculty members, Catheryn Yashar MD and Loren Mell MD, is exploring novel IGRT applications in these patients.


September 2010
Short Course on GPU Programming Launched
Steve Jiang PhD, Director of the Division of Technology Research, and fellow faculty and staff members of the UCSD Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) have launched a Short Course on GPU Programming at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The course is designed for researchers interested in learning GPU programming, with an emphasis on solving problems in medical physics and imaging. GPU applications in Radiation Oncology are receiving increasing attention and open the door to the clinical implementation of many cutting edge techniques including on-line adaptive radiotherapy.


September 2010
CART Researchers Publish New GPU Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Post-Doctoral Fellow, Xun Jia PhD, and fellow department researchers Xuejun Gu PhD, Dong Ju Choi PhD, Amit Majumdar PhD and Steve Jiang PhD, have published a new GPU study in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “Development of a GPU-based Monte Carlo dose calculation code for coupled electron-photon transport”, this study describes a novel GPU-based Monte Carlo dose calculation code for coupled electron-photon transport. Using a GPU approach, a speed-up factor of 5-6.6 times over conventional approaches was achieved.


September 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish New Cervical Cancer Study
Loren Mell MD, Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, Catheryn Yashar MD, Chief of the Gynecologic Oncology Service, and Arno J. Mundt MD, Department Chair, published a new cervical cancer study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics. Entitled “Consensus guidelines for delineation of clinical target volume for intensity-modulated pelvic radiotherapy for the definitive treatment of cervix cancer”, this study presents the first guidelines for target delineation in cervical cancer patients undergoing IMRT. Overall, 19 experts contributed to this study which will serve as the basis for the upcoming RTOG trial. It is noteworthy that there are 3 UCSD authors on this multi-institutional multi-national study.


September 2010
Rady Childrens Hospital Now Largest in California
With the opening of the new 280,000 square foot Acute Care Pavilion, San Diego Rady Children’s Hospital becomes the largest pediatric hospital in California. The $280M Pavilion home to the new Peckham Center for Care and Blood Disorders offers state-of-the-art compassionate care to children and their families. Amenities include large private rooms equipped with sofa beds and wireless internet, Magical Gardens, over 500 inspirational works of art matching the individual themes of each floor (ocean, beach, sky and space) and state-of-the-art surgical and intensive care suites. Under the leadership of Kevin Murphy MD, pediatric radiation oncology is a major focus of the Department and we are proud of the continued growth of Pediatrics within UCSD.


September 2010
UCSD Faculty Visit Angel Care Veterinary Cancer Center
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Chair, Mary Ann Rose MD, Professor and Medical Director (North County), and Joshua Lawson MD, Assistant Professor and Chief of the CNS and Radiosurgery Service, toured the Angel Care Cancer Center in North County San Diego. A state-of-the-art facility founded in 2004 and staffed by board-certified veterinary medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgeons, the Angel Care Center focuses on multi-disciplinary veterinary oncology care including offering radiotherapy. Plans are underway to establish academic, research, education and training collaborations between the UCSD Radiation Oncology Department and the Angel Care Center.

September 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish New Bone Marrow Study
Post-Doc Fellow Yun Liang PhD, and colleagues Brent Rose MD, John Lewis PhD, Steve Jiang PhD, Catheryn Yashar MD, AJ Mundt MD and Loren Mell MD, published a new bone marrow study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics. Entitled “Impact of bone marrow radiation dose on acute hematologic toxicity in cervical cancer: principal component analysis on high dimensional data”, this study presents a novel statistically-guided approach to identifying “critical” areas within pelvic bone marrow which can be potentially avoided using intensity modulated treatment techniques. This approach may significantly improve the ability to reduce hematologic toxicity in patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy.


September 2010
UCSD Radiation Oncology de Colima Center Featured in El Buen Vecino
The local Colima Mexico Newspaper Rl Buen Vecino (The Good Neighbor) did a story highlighting the UCSD Radiation Oncology Center in the Instituto Estatal de Cancerologica (see picture) which is entering its final phase of construction. The Radiation Oncology Center is a joint project of the Department of Radiation Oncology, the State of Colima and the development firm IMMOIS. The center is expected to open in early 2011.


September 2010
UCSD Researchers Publish New Cone-Beam CT Study
Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher Xun Jia PhD, and colleagues William Song PhD and Steve Jiang PhD, published on a new cone-beam CT study in the journal Medical Physics. In this study entitled “GPU-based fast cone beam CT reconstruction from undersampled and noisy projection data via total variation”, these investigators present a GPU-based reconstruction method for cone-beam computed tomography, reducing imaging dose between 36-72 times compared to conventional methods. This approach helps address concerns regarding increased imaging dose in patients undergoing daily on-line imaging.

 

 

 

September 2010
UCSD Researcher Publishes New Breast Cancer Study
Loren Mell MD, Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, published a new breast cancer study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics. Entitled “Outcomes in black patients with early stage breast cancer treated with breast conservation therapy”, this study compared clinical outcomes of black and white women with breast cancer undergoing breast conservation and noted a worse outcome for black patients. In the group of women with mammographically-detected (small) tumors, the prognostic significance of tumor size was greater in black than white patients.

 

 

September 2010
UCSD Faculty Named a San Diego “Top Doctor”
Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was named a “Top Doctor” by the San Diego Magazine. In conjunction with the San Diego Medical Society, San Diego Magazine publishes a list of Top Doctors in 39 specialties including Radiation Oncology. Dr. Mundt was named a Top Doctor in 2008. Other Radiation Oncology Faculty recognized as Top Doctors by the San Diego Magazine in prior years include Mary Ann Rose MD and John Einck MD.

 

 

September 2010
UCSD Radiation Oncology Residency Approved
We are pleased to announce that the UCSD Radiation Oncology Residency Program has been approved by the ACGME and is currently accepting applications for the upcoming residency match. Program Director, Arno J. Mundt MD, a long-time residency program director at the University of Chicago, is excited about this opportunity and the establishment of the only radiation oncology residency training program in the San Diego region. Additional information and updates about the program are available on the department website.

 

September 2010

UCSD Faculty Interviewed on National Public Radio

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was interviewed on the San Diego NPR radio station regarding the future of radiation oncology and proton therapy. Dr. Mundt discussed the potential applications of proton therapy in several tumor sites, notably pediatric cancers, brain tumors, lung and prostate cancer. UCSD is in the process of developing a Proton Treatment and Research Center on the La Jolla campus and novel aspects of this center were discussed during the interview.

August 2010

Annual “Surf for the Cure” Fundraising Event held in La Jolla

The Annual Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau and Longboard Invitational was held in La Jolla. A major fundraising event for the Cancer Center, the Longboard Invitational highlight different surfing teams with noted surfing legends; each time is sponsored by a local San Diego company. To date, the Luau and Longboard Invitational events have raised nearly $5M for cancer research.

August 2010

UCSD visits Manipal Hospital in India

Dr. Catheryn Yashar visited Bangalore, India in August with her husband Arnold, an orthopaedic surgeon, and two of their sons. They were fortunate to spend some time at Manipal Hospital in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Orthopaedic Surgery observing cases, sharing lectures, and also touring some of south India. Dr. Sanjiv Sharma served as their host at Manipal, and they were guests of Padamdeep and Rajbir Singh.

Backwards to forwards and left to right-
1. Santosh, Samuel (both RTTs), Vyonkatesh (Physicist), Dr. Ram
2. Prasanna, Nirmal (both RTTs), Prashant (Physicist), Dr. Rajashekhar, Nurse Elizabeth
3. Haleshappa (attender), Maheshwari (Receptionisst), Anu (Physicist), Dr. Karthik, Preeti (Chief physicist), Dr. Mthangi, Nurse Rugani
4. Two world renowned radiation oncologists?!!
Left to right - Drs. Ram, Karthik, Rajashekhar and Mathang

 

July 2010

UCSD Faculty Participate in Devita Oncology Textbook

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, co-authored the endometrial cancer chapter in the latest edition of the Devita Oncology Textbook “Principles and Practice of Oncology”. The Devita text is the primary multi-disciplinary oncology textbook available today and is used by clinicians and researchers throughout the world. Dr. Mundt’s co-authors include Franco Muggia MD, a medical oncologist at New York University, and Pedro Ramizez MD, a gynelocogic oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

July 2010

UCSD Launches New Prostate Brachytherapy Program

The Department of Radiation Oncology is pleased to announce the establishment of a new Prostate Brachytherapy Program in La Jolla. Under the direction of John Einck MD, Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical Radiation Oncology, the program is run jointly with the Division of Urology. Trained at the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Einck has considerable experience in the use of brachytherapy in prostate cancer and other disease sites. He was named Top Doctor in 2007 by the San Diego Magazine and was recruited to UCSD in 2009.

 

July 2010

UCSD Receives Major Clinical and Translational Science Award

UC San Diego and its expanding Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) have received a five-year, $37.2M award from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the NIH. The CTRI involves the UCSD Medical School and Medical Center, Rady School of Management, Salk Institute, Burnham Institute, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Rady Children’s Hospital. Launched in 2006, this awards program emphasizes inter-disciplinary research collaborations among scientists. Plans are underway for a 292,000 square foot building with a skyway link to the new Jacobs Medical Center, a physical link from basic science to real-world medicine.

July 2010

UCSD Faculty Named 2010 Health Care Champion Finalist

Steve Jiang PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Division of Technology Research, was named a 2010 Health Care Champion Finalist by the San Diego Business Journal. This prestigious honor highlights select physicians, scientists, administrators and allied health professionals who have made a major impact on health care and business in the San Diego region. Founded in 1973 and with a circulation of over 15600, the San Diego Business Journal is published weekly and is a major resource for the business community in Southern California.

 

July 2010

TrueBeam Installed at UCSD

UCSD Radiation Oncology is pleased to announce the installation of the Varian TrueBeam Linear Accelerator, the most sophisticated radiation machine available today. Available at only a few sites in the United States and Europe, TrueBeam represents a revolution in the field of radiation oncology. With a completely new software and hardware platform, TrueBeam provides the ability to increase the speed and accuracy of treatment. UCSD is excited about being the first TrueBeam center in the San Diego region and will be highlighting this exciting new technology at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) to be held in San Diego in early November.

June 2010

UCSD Faculty is a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, Department of Radiation Oncology. He delivered a talk entitled “IMRT, IGRT and Adaptive RT in Gynecologic Malignancies: An Update”, met with the faculty and the radiation oncology residents. The University of Miami Radiation Oncology Department is under the Chairmanship of Alan Pollack MD PhD, an internationally recognized prostate cancer expert.

 

June 2010

UCSD Faculty Participate in 2010 Medical School Graduation

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, and Loren K. Mell MD, Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research attended the 2010 UCSD Medical School Graduation. Three Medical Students (Brent Rose, Daniel Simpson and Sameer Nath) who have performed research in the department received their MD degrees. Drs. Simpson and Nath were “hooded” by Dr. Mundt and Dr. Rose by Dr. Mell. Brent Rose is also the 2010 recipient of the Arlene and Bernard Goodhead Service Award for Oncology.

June 2010

UCSD Researcher Founds International Cervix Cancer Research Group

Loren Mell MD, Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, has established an International Cervical Cancer Radiation Project focused on novel technologies in cervical cancer. While still in its infancy, several centers have become members including the Peking Union Medical College (Beijing China), Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai India), King Chulangkorn Memorial Hospital (Bangkok Thailand) and the AC Camargo Hospital (Sao Paulo Brazil). The first clinical trial, a Phase II chemotherapy plus IMRT trial, is currently underdevelopment and will be launched in late 2010 or early 2011. Future trials will focus on other technologies including IGRT and adaptive RT in patients with cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies.

 

June 2010

New Medical Director of UCSD South Bay Named

Kevin Murphy MD, Associate Professor and Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Service, has been named Medical Director of the UCSD South Bay Radiation Oncology Facility. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Dr. Murphy came to UCSD in 2005 and served as Radiation Oncology Medical Director at the Moores Cancer Center and Chief of the Brain Tumor and Radiosurgery Services. Dr. Murphy was born and raised in San Diego and is excited about establishing relationships with community providers in the South Bay region.

June 2010

UCSD Faculty Joins ACS Leadership Council

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, has been named to the San Diego Leadership Council of the American Cancer Society. A long-time supporter of the outreach activities of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Mundt becomes the sole representative from UCSD on the Leadership Council. Other healthcare systems in San Diego represented on the council include Scripps Hospitals and Sharp Memorial Hospital.

May 2010

UCSD Faculty Serve as ABR Oral Boards Examiners

Dr. Arno Mundt, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCSD, served as an Oral Examiner for the American Board of Radiology (ABR) annual examination in Radiation Oncology. Offered each year in Louisville, this exam is taken by new radiation oncology graduates seeking to obtain their Board Certification and encompasses 8 subjects. An internationally recognized expert in gynecologic cancers, Dr. Mundt has served as an Oral Examiner in the Gynecology Section for over 5 years. Other examiners include Jeff Bradley (Washington University), Patrick Kupelian (MD Anderson Orlando), Alan Pollack (Fox Chase), and Nancy Lee (Memorial Sloan Kettering).

May 2010

UCSD Cancer Center Gala 2010

The 29th Annual Cancer Center Gala benefiting the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center was at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in downtown San Diego. This black-tie gala featured award-winning local and out-of-town chefs who presented their signature hors d’oeuvres paired with local fine wines. The Cancer Center Gala is the major fundraising event held by the Moores Cancer Center each year and was attended by many Radiation Oncology physicians and their spouses.

 

May 2010

UCSD Faculty Present at ABS Meeting in Atlanta

Catheryn Yashar MD, Associate Professor and Chief of the Gynecologic Oncology and Breast Cancer Services, and Loren Mell MD, Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research, were invited speakers at the annual meeting of the American Brachytherapy Society held in Atlanta Georgia. Dr. Yashar spoke on novel image-guided radiotherapy approaches in cervical cancer and Dr. Mell presented on new approaches for bone marrow sparing in these patients. The ABS is attended by radiation oncologists and medical physicists interested in the practice of brachytherapy in a wide variety of diseases including gynecologic cancers.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Attend TrueBeam Unveiling

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, Kevin Murphy MD, Associate Professor and Pediatric Oncology Service Chief, and Casey Sandack MBA, Administrative Vice-Chair, attended the international unveiling of the TrueBeam Machine by Varian at an event held in Manhattan. TrueBeam is a revolutionary new approach to Radiation Oncology reducing overall treatment times and improving treatment accuracy. TrueBeam represents the latest and most sophisticated Radiation delivery machine available today. UCSD will be the first and only center in San Diego to offer this exciting new technology to patients.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Present at ASTRO IMRT, IGRT, SBRT Symposium

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Chair, was an invited speaker at the annual American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) IMRT, IGRT, SBRT symposium held at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas Texas. Entitled “Gynecologic IMRT, IGRT and SBRT”, his lecture provided an overview of the exciting work being done applying these novel technologies to patients with cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies. Dr. Mundt is a frequent invited speaker on the role of new technologies in the treatment of cervical cancer. Other invited speakers included Alan Pollack MD (University of Miami), Patrick Kupelian MD (MD Anderson Orlando), Nancy Lee MD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) and Lei Dong PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center).

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Lecture at Loyola University

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Chair, is an invited Visiting Professor at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Loyola University in Chicago. He presented on novel radiation technologies in the treatment of cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies. Along with John Roeske PhD, Director of Medical Physics at Loyola, Dr. Mundt has published several textbooks devoted to novel radiation technologies, the first devoted to IMRT and the second on IGRT (which is expected later this year). Their IGRT textbook includes more than 200 authors from over 75 institutions in 17 countries.

 

April 2010

CART Researchers Publish Novel Radiosurgery Immobilization Technique

Center Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher Laura Cervino PhD and fellow CART Researchers Todd Pawlicki PhD, Joshua Lawson MD and Steve Jiang PhD published a novel radiosurgery immobilization approach in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “Frame-less and mask-less cranial stereotactic radiosurgery: a feasibility study”, this study evaluated the feasibility of a novel SRS immobilization approach based on real-time surface video monitoring using phantom measurements and volunteers. Motion within the minimally immobilized head mold was successfully detected with the video-based approach. This technique is currently being evaluated prospective in the clinic.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Named ACRO Membership Committee Chair

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Chair, has been named the Chair of the Membership Committee for the American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO). A long time ACRO member who currently serves on the ACRO Board of Chancellors, Dr. Mundt has served as the Vice-Chair of the Membership Committee for the past two years. ACRO is a vibrant society focused on the practicing Radiation Oncologist providing an excellent complement to ASTRO in terms of education for both academic and private radiation oncologists alike.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Publishes New Head and Neck Cancer Study

Joshua Lawson MD, Assistant Professor and Director of the UCSD Radiation Oncology Learning Center, along with his former colleagues from Emory University, published a new head and neck cancer study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics. Entitled “Evaluation of automatic atlas-based lymph node segmentation for head-and-neck cancer”, this study evaluated the impact of automated atlas-based segmentation on the efficiency and inter-observer variability of lymph node contouring in head and neck cancer patients undergoing IMRT. Their results demonstrated a high degree of accuracy and reduction in inter-observer variability of contouring, suggesting that this technique may improve the quality and delivery of radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Attend IKOEngelo Varian Board Meeting

Dr. Arno J Mundt, Professor and Department Chair, attended the IKOEngelo Varian Board Meeting held in Las Vegas Nevada. Originally developed by Clifford Chao MD and other researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center, IKOEngelo provides the radiation oncologist with clinical targets delineated on example cases by experts in the field. These volumes can then be deformed onto other cases allowing the user to compare his or her target volumes with those of experts on actual clinical cases in the user’s clinic. Varian has recently purchased this product and Dr. Mundt and others are helping Varian explore potentially applications of this product.

 

April 2010

CART Researchers Publish New Lung Cancer Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher Laura Cervino PhD and fellow CART Researchers Yan Jiang, Ajay Sandhu MD and Steve Jiang PhD published a new lung cancer study in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “Tumor motion prediction with the diaphragm as a surrogate: a feasibility study”, this study evaluated the feasibility of using the diaphragm as a surrogate for predicting real-time tumor position in patients with lung cancer undergoing radiotherapy. Their results demonstrated a high degree of accuracy of this technique, providing a possible means of improving the delivery of stereotactic radiation therapy in these patients.

April 2010

UCSD Poet Wins 2010 Pulitzer Prize

Rae Armantrout, UCSD Professor of Writing and Literature, has been awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Dr. Armantrout received the Prize for “Versed” a new collection of poems which was cited as “a book striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, offering poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading.” First awarded in 1917, Pulitzer Prizes recognize achievements in newspaper reporting, journalism, literature and music composition.

April 2010

Genelux Researchers Publish New Basic Science Study

Ivaylo Gentschev PhD and fellow Genelux Researchers Nanhai Chen PhD, Tony Yu PhD, and Aladar Szalay PhD published a new basic science study in the journal Biomedicine and Biotechnology. Entitled “Regression of human prostate tumors and metastases in nude mice following treatment with the recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68”, this study evaluated the ability of the oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 to infect, replicate in and treat prostate cancer tumors implanted in nude mice. The results were extremely promising and suggest that GLV-1h68 may represent a novel new approach to the treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Szalay is a Professor in the Division of Radiation Biology and Biotechnologies in our department. The appointments of Drs. Gentschev, Chen and Yu are anticipated soon.

April 2010

CART Researchers Submit 28 ASTRO Abstracts

A total of 28 research abstracts were submitted by members of the Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) to the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Research topics included a wide variety of areas including prostate cancer, breast cancer, CNS tumors, adaptive RT, stereotactic radiosurgery, brachytherapy and pediatric cancers. ASTRO is the primary international organization for the specialty of Radiation Oncology and will be holding its 52nd annual meeting in San Diego later this year.

April 2010

UCSD Researches Publish New Lung Cancer Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Graduate Student John Lewis and fellow CART Researchers Ruijiang Li PhD, Tyler Watkins MS, Joshua Lawson MD, Laura Cervino PhD, William Song PhD and Steve Jiang PhD published a new lung cancer study in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “Markerless lung tumor tracking and trajectory reconstruction using rotational cone-bone projections: a feasibility study”, this study demonstrates the feasibility of direct tumor tracking using rotational images, providing a straightforward approach to improve patient setup and quality assurance in patients undergoing radiotherapy for primary and metastatic lung cancer.

April 2010

UCSD Faculty Lecture in Las Vegas

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, was an invited speaker at the 1st Annual Spring Update on Cancer, a two day seminar offering practicing physicians a review of the current treatment management of common malignancies. In a talk entitled “New Innovations in Radiation Oncology”, Dr. Mundt reviewed a variety of radiation technologies including IMRT, IGRT, Dynamic Adaptive RT and proton therapy, discussing their present and future roles in the treatment of cancer. Other invited speakers included Jonathan Beitler MD (Emory), Dwight Heron MD (U Pittsburgh), and Michael Steinberg MD (UCLA).

April 2010

UCSD Researchers Publish New Cervix Cancer Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) National Institute of Health Fellow Brent Rose (see photo) and fellow UCSD Researchers Yun Liang PhD, Catheryn Yashar MD, AJ Mundt MD and Loren Mell MD published a new cervical cancer study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics. Entitled “Normal tissue complication probability modeling of acute hematologic toxicity in cervical cancer patients treated with chemoradiotherapy”, this study provides strong evidence that reducing radiation dose to the pelvic bone marrow can significantly reduce the risk of hematologic toxicity in cervical cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation and thus may help improve the quality and delivery of treatment in these patients.

March 2010

UCSD Featured in AlignRT Radiosurgery Brochure

The Frame-less, Mask-less, Bite Block-less (FMB) Stereotactic Radiosurgery Approach pioneered at UCSD was feature in an AlignRT Radiosurgery Brochure. Unlike conventional Radiosurgery techniques which require either a rigid frame fixed to the patient’s skull or frequent x-rays for setup verification, the FMB system uses a comfortable mask-less system with real-time setup monitoring using the AlignRT 3D surface video system. UCSD Chief Therapist, Matt Taylor RTT, and Director of the Division of Clinical Medical Physics, Todd Pawlicki PhD, are highlighted in the brochure.

March 2010

UCSD To Build New Specialty Hospital

UCSD has announced plans to begin construction on the new Jacobs Medical Center, a 10-story specialty hospital adjacent to the Moores Cancer Center, Thornton Hospital and the Sulpizio Cardiovasular Center in La Jolla. Named after Irwin Jacobs, the founder of Qualcomm, who pledged $75 Million to the project, the medical center will consist of 3 new hospitals devoted to Cancer, Advanced Surgical Technique and Maternal/Fetal Medicine.

March 2010

UCSD Radiation Oncology South Bay Billboard on I-5

A bill board featuring the UCSD Radiation Oncology South Bay facility is now seen on I-5 in Chula Vista, California. The South Bay Radiation Oncology facility is a truly state-of-the-art facility which brings for the first time cutting-edge cancer treatment technologies to the South Bay including the Trilogy Machine and Rapid Arc treatment. The South Bay facility is part of the UCSD vision to bring state-of-the-art cancer care to the community in San Diego.

 

March 2010

Radiation Oncology Department Receives Gold Metal Excellence Award

The UCSD Radiation Oncology department received a Gold Metal Excellence Award from the UCSD Medical Center in light of its stellar performance in terms of patient satisfaction. The Department consistently scores at the top of all departments in the medical center exceeding all goals for patient satisfaction. We are very proud of our wonderful staff and their consistent hard work and dedication to patient care!

March 2010

UCSD Ranked Among Top Medical Schools

The US News and World Report ranked UCSD Medical School 16th among the 122 research-intensive Medical Schools in the United States in the annual America’s Best Graduate Schools Edition. Also ranked among the top graduate programs was UCSD Jacob’s School of Engineering, with the biomedical/bioengineering program ranked 2nd in the nation. The annual, closely watched nationwide ranking of colleges and universities recognizes excellence across a wide range of disciplines including medical, business, education, law and the sciences.

March 2010

UCSD Ranked Among the Happiest Colleges

The UC San Diego is ranked among the nation’s happiest colleges for its nightlife, number of student organizations, retention rate and sunny days, according to the Daily Beast, a news reporting and commentary website. The survey considered the top 50 public universities, the top 50 liberal arts colleges and the top 50 national universities based on the US News and World Report’s Best College Ranking.

February 2010

UCSD Faculty Visit Two European Proton Centers

Dr. Arno Mundt, Professor and Chair, and Todd Pawlicki, Associate Professor and Director, Division of Clinical Medical Physics, visited two European Proton Treatment Centers as part of UCSD planning for a Proton Center on the La Jolla campus. The first visit was to the Paul Scherrer Insitut in Villegen, Switzerland and the second visit was to the Rinecker Proton Center in Munich Germany (see photo). The Department of Radiation Oncology is in the final stages of negotiations to establish a new proton center in San Diego, only the second Proton Center on the West Coast and the only one west of Houston.

February 2010

UCSD Faculty Present at ACRO Annual Meeting in Orlando

Dr. Catheryn Yashar, Associate Professor and Chief of the Gynecologic Oncology Service, and Dr. Arno Mundt, Professor and Department Chair, were invited speakers at the 2010 American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO) meeting held in Orlando Florida. Dr. Yashar presented several talks, including a review of the treatment of endometrial cancer, and also a lecture at the Resident Session. Dr. Mundt spoke at a sponsored breakfast highlighting the modular technology developed by Rad Technologies, the company which built the new UCSD Radiation Oncology expansion adjacent to the Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Mundt is a long-time ACRO member and currently serves on the ACRO Board of Chancellors.

February 2010

UCSD Radiation Oncology North County highlighted in Encinitas Paper

The UCSD Radiation Oncology North County facility was highlighted in the Encinitas First Magazine published by the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce. The article focused on the growing number of health care related facilities being established in Encinitas and highlighted our center and its equipment. Mary Ann Rose MD, Professor and Medical Director, and Krista Jubala, Center Manager, who both serve on the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce were spotlighted in the article.

February 2010

UCSD Faculty Attend Varian DART Council Meeting in Switzerland

Arno J. Mundt MD, Professor and Department Chair, and Todd Pawlicki, Associate Professor and Director, Division of Clinical Medical Physics, attended the Varian DART Council Meeting in Baden Switzerland. On-Line DART (Dynamic Adaptive Radiation Therapy), the ability to adapt treatment everyday to changes in the tumor and patient anatomy, is an area of intense research in the department and within Varian Oncology Systems, the largest manufacturer of radiation therapy equipment in the world. The council also includes representatives from other major academic institutions in the world including Duke University and Aarhus University in Denmark.

January 2010

CART Researchers Publish New Adaptive RT Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Post-Doctoral Fellow, Xuejun Gu PhD, and UCSD co-authors Hubert Pan, Yun Liang PhD, Amitava Majumdar PhD, Dongiu Choi PhD, and Steve Jiang PhD have published on new study in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology. Entitled “Implementation and evaluation of various demons deformable image registration algorithms on a GPU”, this study is the latest in a series of analyses from the CART lab applying high-speed computer graphics processing units (GPUs) to reduce the computational time needed for various aspects of the adaptive image-guided RT process, in this case deformable image registration. Their work demonstrates that using this approach deformable image registration can be performed with a high degree of accuracy in 7-11 seconds. These results demonstrate once again that GPU technology may be the key behind the clinical implementation of on-line adaptive radiotherapy.

January 2010

CART Researchers Publish New Stereotactic Radiosurgery Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) NIH fellow, Sameer Nath, and co-authors Joshua Lawson MD, Daniel Simpson, Jia-Zhu Wang PhD, A.J. Mundt MD, John Alksne MD, Joseph Ciacci MD and Kevin Murphy MD, published a new stereotactic radiosurgery study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics. Entitled “Single isocenter frameless intensity-modulated stereotactic radiosurgery for simultaneous treatment of multiple brain metastases: clinical experience”, this study reviews the clinical outcome of 26 patients with multiple brain metastases who were treated with a novel single-isocenter approach developed at UCSD. Outcomes were excellent with a tumor control rate at one year of 83%. Serious toxicity occurred in only 2 patients (8%). These results compare favorably against conventional radiosurgical techniques which require considerably longer treatment times.

January 2010

CART Researchers Publish New Cervical Cancer Study

Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher and Resident in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ramez Eskander MD (shown in photo), and Radiation Oncology faculty co-authors Daniel Scanderbeg PhD and Catheryn Yashar MD, have published a new study in the International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer. Entitled “Comparison of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in cervical cancer brachytherapy target and normal tissue contouring”, this study compared the contouring of targets and normal tissues in 11 women undergoing high-dose-rate brachytherapy using both CT and MRI. Only modest differences in target delineation and dose to normal tissues were seen comparing the two modalities suggesting that the planning CT combined with a single MRI may be sufficient in these patients

January 2010

CART Researchers Publish New Breast Cancer Study

Dan Scanderbeg PhD. Center for Advanced Radiotherapy Technologies (CART) Researcher and Assistant Professor in the Division of Clinical Medical Physics and co-authors Catheryn Yashar MD, Greg White, Roger Rice PhD and Todd Pawlicki PhD have published a new breast cancer study in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. Entitled “Evaluation of three APBI techniques under NSABP B-39 guidelines”, this study compared 3 accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) techniques: Mammosite brachytherapy, 3D conformal external beam RT and the novel SAVI brachytherapy device in a cohort of early stage breast cancer patients eligible for all three modalities under NSABP B-39 guidelines. The SAVI outperformed the other modalities in several metrics including having the lowest maximum dose to the lung, skin and ribs, highlighting its ability to better conform to the target shape minimizing dose to surrounding normal tissues.

January 2010

UCSD Medical Students Present Posters for NIH Fellowship Progam

James Zhu and Sharon Lu, both medical students at the University of California San Diego presented posters at the UCSD annual NIH short-term research training grant poster event. Their posters were entitled “Intracavity Brachytherapy with the Gliasite or Mammosite Devices as a Component of the Initial Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme” and “Irradiating Larger and Irregularly-Shaped Volumes of Breast Tissues Using the SAVI Multicatheter Brachytherapy Device,” respectively. James Zhu’s project reviewed the UCSD experience using the MammoSite and Gliasite devices to deliver boost radiotherapy to the postoperative tumorbed for increased local control of an aggressive brain tumor. Sharon Lu’s research explored the dosimetric flexibility of the breast brachytherapy device, SAVI.

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