Units

---

Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

Treatment planning is an essential component of radiation therapy skills and application of fundamental principles to routine planning practice is essential. This unit builds on the fundamental theories of ¿Treatment Planning 1¿ to concentrate on application of knowledge to practice. In order to further prepare them for clinical planning, a range of basic plans will be completed using the central slice only. This will consolidate understanding of basic planning concepts and pave the way for progression to full 3D planning in subsequent Units. Students will need to gain plan evaluation skills in order to become a competent treatment planner and this module provides them with the underpinning theory and introductory practice. Students at this level are expected to engage with the literature base in order to support their work and they will have specific support for this via the plan evaluation activity.

Aims

This unit is designed to further develop and start to apply treatment planning principles to basic radiation therapy plan production and evaluation.

Objectives

On completion of this unit you will be able to;

1. Utilise computer planning software to perform basic radiation therapy planning techniques.

2. Explain the fundamental principles underpinning treatment planning systems.

3. Explain how radiobiology theories and normal tissue tolerances impact on radiotherapy planning.

4. Critically evaluate and analyse resultant plans produced with regard to a range of literature.

Content

· Treatment Planning System principles
· Data acquisition and translation
· Structure outlining and segmentation
· Multiple field techniques including two, three and four fields, and tangential beams.
· Dose calculations of photon and electron beams.
· Plan optimisation and dosimetry strategies including wedging and weighting variations.
· Radiobiology for radiation therapy including cell cycles, therapeutic ratio, alpha-beta ratios,
· Factors affecting response to radiation including 5Rs radiosensitizers, OER and hypoxia
· Normal tissue tolerances and complications.
· Fractionation in RT, including rationale, BED, different schedules, missed fractions
· Inhomogeneity corrections for photon beams
· Electron beam characteristics.
· Planning of specific sites to include breast, prostate, lung, bladder, rectum.
· Plan evaluation strategies

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

A range of learning and teaching strategies will be employed in this unit. The lectures will introduce you to key concepts relating to the principles and practice of computer planning. These will be complemented with regular practical sessions to consolidate your understanding. The practicals will use the 3D treatment planning system to provide you with the opportunity to develop genuine and relevant practical planning skills. Problem-based learning will challenge you to apply your knowledge and understanding to realistic clinical situations for a range of common tumour sites. The Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training (VERT) will be used to display your plans and assist you in 3D evaluation of your work.

As you progress through the Course you will be expected to become increasingly active in your learning and the teaching and learning strategies in this unit require you to engage in more autonomous learning. For this unit, you will be provided with the essential information and opportunity to practice but you will need to supplement this with further reading, self-directed study and further planning practice. You will be required to reflect on your progress and performance in the unit at regular intervals. Additionally you should identify areas for development and address these with the aid of unit teaching staff where appropriate.

This unit requires you to engage with the Blackboard learning environment regularly. Specific learning materials including suggested reading, links to relevant internet sites and other electronic resources will be located on Blackboard. You will be required to complete regular online tests via Blackboard and where possible use Blackboard to submit your written assessments. A key aspect of the Course is fostering a thriving learning community and for this unit, you will need to discuss plan evaluation strategies with your peers and tutors via the Blackboard discussion board.

The final approach to teaching and learning relates to assessment for learning. The assessments for this unit are designed to ensure maximum understanding of the content and it is important that you recognise the role of assessment in your learning. You should view the assessments as part of your learning and ensure that you utilise the feedback to progress your learning and personal development.

Assessment

All assessment contributes to unit results. Students must achieve at least 50% to be awarded a passing grade.Feedback is provided throughout the semester, where work is reviewed and assessed. Feedback will aim to provide students with suggestions for further development of academic skills as well as suggestions for further study where appropriate. Timescales for feedback will be communicated to students prior to assessment submission but will aim to be returned within 3 weeks where possible. Provisional marks and feedback for this unit will be made available via Blackboard and accessible from the ¿My Grades¿ tool. Some tests within Blackboard will be automatically marked and these marks and automatically generated feedback will be available immediately after test submission.

Assessment name: Plan Production and Evaluation
Description: Students will be provided with common tumour site CT data sets and required to produce a clinically acceptable plan for each site. The assessment submission will comprise a portfolio of plan evaluations with reference to a range of literature.
Relates to objectives: 1 and 4.
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of Semester

Assessment name: Final Examination
Description: End of semester written examination.
Relates to objectives: 2 and 3.
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Exam Period

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Required Texts

1. Khan F (2010). The Physics of Radiation Therapy. 4th Ed. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

2. Khan F (2007). Treatment Planning in Radiation Oncology. 2nd Ed. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

References

1. Barrett A, Dobbs J, Morris S, Roques T (2009). Practical Radiotherapy Planning. 4th Ed. Hodder Arnold

2. International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (1993). Prescribing, Recording and Reporting Photon Beam Therapy (ICRU Report 50)

3. International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (1999). Prescribing, Recording and Reporting Photon Beam Therapy. Supplement to ICRU Report 50. (ICRU Report 62)

4. Metcalf P, Kron T, Hoban P (2007). The Physics of Radiotherapy X-rays and Electrons. Medical Physics Publishing

A range of literature from journals including:
1. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics
2 Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice
3. Medical Dosimetry
4. Radiotherapy and Oncology

Additional resources are located on the Blackboard site for this unit.

Risk assessment statement

The only out-of -the-ordinary risks associated with the unit relate to the practical exercises held in the Pinnacle laboratory. You will receive instructions on safety issues during these sessions.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 28-Nov-2012