2025
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Tuesday Tue
Location
Medical Physics Seminar - Brian Pogue
Time:
12:00pm – 1:00pm Seminar & Discussion
Location:
Zoom Webinar
Webinar Registration:
https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CXmXtOUzRk-c9gdT7vXjaw
Check your email for the Zoom webinar link after you have registered
Speaker
Dr Brian Pogue, Chair of the Department of Medical Physics, Radiology and Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Brian W. Pogue, PhD is the Chair of the Department of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and Professor of Medical Physics, Radiology and Human Oncology, and is adjunct Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth. Dr Pogue’s work is in the area of invention or discovery in aspects of optical imaging that can be translated into systems that guide cancer intervention. Specifically, most work focuses on molecular sensing in tissue or visualization of x-ray induced light signals in tissue. Each of these is supported by NIH funding, and this translational work led to co-founding of three start-ups, including DoseOptics LLC which has now commercialized the first system to allow direct visualization of radiation dose delivery to radiotherapy patients. This work has led to 14 issued patents and 28 pending, and more than 600 peer-reviewed papers and $52 million in NIH grant support. Dr Pogue is a Fellow member of Optica, SPIE, AIMBE, AAPM and the National Academy of Inventors.
Abstract
Medical physics and engineering advance the field of radiation therapy through new technologies that are invented and deployed in pre-clinical and early clinical testing. This talk will discuss the emerging field of medical physics education, and where it is going, as well as delve into two different example areas where technology innovations are shaping what is possible in radiotherapy. In the field of image guidance, the lack of any capability to directly see radiation or even directly measure radiation dose has always limited our knowledge of accuracy in dose delivery. Instead extensive computational planning and positional imaging methods have been used for delivery confirmation. The discovery and development of cameras for capturing Cherenkov light emission from patients in radiotherapy, has allowed for advancement of dose imaging techniques. This discovery of how to use Cherenkov imaging at Dartmouth, has now been integrated into surface guided radiotherapy (SGRT) and systems are being installed in several cancer centers worldwide. Incidents of delivery inaccuracy can now be seen and corrected at the time of delivery or corrected for before subsequent fractions, with the documented incident rate being seen at the level of 2% to 10% per patient. Incidents in whole breast radiotherapy ranged from excess dose on the chin or neck, to excess dose to the contralateral breast. By imaging the radiation delivery in real time, it is now possible to improve the safety of delivery. In the field of radiobiology, a new discovery showed that ultra-high dose rates (UHDR) can lower normal tissue radiation response, and this is termed the ‘FLASH’ effect. Today FLASH is being explored in many centers and is in early phase human safety trials. Optimization of this UHDR delivery has been inhibited by the lack of knowledge of what specifically the mechanisms underlying it are. In this example the role of oxygen in inducing FLASH is discussed, based upon pre-clinical data, and the assays used to quantify tissue sparing are discussed. Optimal delivery of irradiation in a way where oxygen is used to maximal value is discussed. Additionally, the first large animal efficacy trial directly comparing FLASH with conventional therapy in veterinary dogs will be discussed.