Novalis - Southeast's Treatment Planning Staff sets Center apart from rest

Treatment Planning

Southeast's staff sets center apart from rest

Southeast’s Novalis Center features in-house staff for high-tech treatment planning. Southeast’s Radiation Oncology Physics Team includes a full-time Board Certified Radiation Oncologist, two full-time Medical Physicists and a fulltime Medical Dosimetrist.

Chief Physicist Samuel Hancock says Novalis combines the advantage of the most precise dynamic beam shaping with intensity modulated radiation therapy and the most advanced image guided positioning. "It combines the best dose delivery methods with exquisitely accurate positioning," he says.

Treatment planning is a very high-tech process. The Novalis team evaluates the patient to determine if they are a candidate for radiation treatment with Novalis. The team also determines if the treatment will consist of single fraction radiotherapy or fractionated treatment.

Typically, the treatment planning starts with a CT scan or a MRI scan. The scans go into the dedicated Treatment Planning computer. The team then determines an optimum beam arrangement and calculates the dose distribution in the virtual patient.

The radiation oncologist makes the final judgment regarding acceptability of the dose distribution and beam arrangement.

Sam Hancock, Ph.D., ABR, ABMP, Chief Physicist, says the Physics staff is responsible for the integrity of the information and data in the treatment planning computer, and the accuracy of the calculations. “That’s why it’s very important to have a resident physicist on staff,” he says.

The data from the treatment planning computer is then transferred to the Novalis treatment machine and is used to monitor and control the delivery of the treatment.

“It’s a very precise process,” says Hancock. “We have to ensure the radiation output is calibrated accurately, We have to ensure that we have precise and accurate beam localization, We have to test the image guided positioning system to ensure precision and accuracy. If a single link is weak or missing, it can cause the process to break down.“

Radiation Oncology Physics Team

Joseph Miller, M.D.

Joseph P. Miller, M.D.
Medical Director of
Radiation Oncology

Samuel Hancock

Samuel Hancock
Ph.D., ABR, ABMP
Chief Physicist

Nicholas Schupp
M.S.
Physicist

Mark Mayhew
BS, RT(R) (T), CMD
Medical Dosimetrist