2025
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Tuesday Tue
Location
Medical Physics Seminar - Katja Langen
Challenges and Pitfalls of Proton Therapy
Time:
12:00pm – 1:00pm Seminar & Discussion
Location:
Zoom Webinar
Webinar Registration:
https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_P5xJSY0OT1yfndRJpk-PQQ
Check your email for the Zoom webinar link after you have registered
Speaker
Dr. Katja Langen, Ph.D., Chief of Proton Therapy Physics at the Emory Proton Therapy Center, Atlanta, Georgia
I am a board certified (American Board of Radiology) Medical Physicist with 25 years of clinical experience in Radiation Therapy. Over the last 25 years I have focused my research activities on the topics of organ motion, image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and proton therapy. While the topic of organ and patient motion is certainly not new, it gained significance with the introduction of new intensity modulated radiation techniques that are able to deliver radiation dose distributions that are highly conformal to the tumor volume. I have published nearly 80 papers in the peer reviewed literature. I have served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Radiation Therapy, Biology, Physics from 2014-2018 and was elected Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in 2019. Since 2019 I serve as the Chief of Proton Therapy Physics at the Emory Proton Therapy Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Abstract
Proton therapy is a highly specialized form of radiation therapy. Protons stop at a well-defined range and the absence of exit dose make it an attractive treatment modality. On the other hand, proton beams are also very sensitive to any density changes that occur along their path. Anatomical changes due to breathing or patient deformation have a greater potential of degrading the proton dose distribution. Proton specific challenges will be discussed along with mitigation techniques.