Course Director

Gert Meijer, Medical Physicist, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht (NL)

Co-Chair

Neil Burnet, Radiation Oncologist, University of Manchester and The Christie Hospital, Manchester (UK)

Teachers

• Nicola Dinapoli, Radiation Oncologist, University Clinics A. Gemelli, Rome (IT)
• Ursula Nestle, Radiation Oncologist, Kliniken Maria Hilf, Mönchengladbach and Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg (DE)
• Markus Stock, Medical Physicist, EBG MedAustron GmbH, Wiener Neustadt (AT)
• Desirée van den Bongard, Radiation Oncologist, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam (NL)
• Marcel van Herk, Radiotherapy Physicist, The Christie, Manchester (UK)

Local organiser

• Martin Doležel, Radiation Oncologist, Faculty of Medicine, Palacky University Hospital (CZ)

This five-day course intends to:

• Enhance the knowledge of comprehensive treatment planning and the understanding of strategies to obtain optimal treatment plans for patients. This implies a complex integration of clinical, imaging, biological and physical/technological knowledge, skills and competencies
• Focus on challenging scenarios related to the interaction of these issues with a specific focus on dose distribution, with and without computer aided optimization and modelling, in particular in more complex cases

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course participants should be able to:

• Have a comprehensive understanding of all parts of the planning process and also plan evaluation for intensity modulated radiotherapy (both step-and-shoot IMRT and VMAT)
• Increase accuracy as well as effectiveness in the planning process
• Understand the problem of competing priorities in planning
• Appreciate the concept of plan optimisation
• Understand the basis for comparing different plans for the same case.

Course Content

• Broadening the therapeutic band width
• Dose calculation algorithms and their differences in clinical impact
• Applying ICRU in treatment planning
• Practical guidelines for both step-and-shoot IMRT and VMAT planning
• Relationships between 3D dose distributions and clinical toxicities, chest, head and neck, pelvis
• Particle therapy planning
• Physical and biological optimisation
• Pareto fronts in clinical practice
• Geometric uncertainties and how to deal with them
• Molecular imaging in treatment planning
• Adaptive planning strategies (both online and offline)
• Online planning, library planning, dose painting planning, robust and probabilistic planning.

Treatment Planning Systems

Eclipse, Monaco, Pinnacle³, RayStation and TomoTherapy.

Prerequisites

Experience of treatment planning with IMRT is desirable.  The course is aimed at staff routinely involved in advanced treatment planning in their daily routine, preferably with at least two years of experience. We encourage attendance not only for radiation therapists (RTTs) but also for physicists and radiation oncologists with clinical experience and a basic understanding of the fundamental components of treatment planning, who wish to deepen their knowledge of advanced treatment planning concepts and techniques, including the underlying optimization, prioritizing and balancing of clinical objectives

Teaching Methods

• 19 hours of lectures
• 9 hours of practical workshops
• 4 hours of case discussions.

Methods of Assessment

• MCQ
• Evaluation form.

Affiliation

Programme

The draft programme will be available soon

Key Words

Radiotherapy planning, intensity modulated radiotherapy, IMRT, VMAT

Accreditation

Application for CME recognition will be submitted to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). EACCME credits are recognised by the American Medical Association towards the Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA). Information on the status of the applications can be obtained from the ESTRO office.

Venue

Vienna House Diplomat Prague,
Evropská 15,
160 00 Praha 6,
Czech Republic

Accommodation

Details to come soon.

Membership

ESTRO members can order products at substantially reduced prices. Please note that in order to benefit from the member price, you must renew your membership for 2021 before registering to the course.To benefit from these member rates, please visit the membership page to become a member or renew your membership BEFORE proceeding with your order.

Fees

* Members with specialty RadiationTherapist (RTT) may register at the In Training fee

Early rates are applied up to three months before the starting date of the course.

Late rates are applied three months before the starting date of the course.

The fee includes the course material, coffees, lunches, and the social event.

Advance registration & payment are required.

Since the number of participants is limited, late registrants are advised to contact the ESTRO office before payment, to inquire about availability of places. Access to homework and/or course material will become available upon receipt of full payment.

Insurance and cancellation

The organiser does not accept liability for individual medical, travel or personal insurance. Participants are strongly advised to take out their own personal insurance policies.   

In case an unforeseen event would force ESTRO to cancel the meeting, the Society will reimburse the participants fully the registration fees. ESTRO will not be responsible for the refund of travel and accommodation costs.

In case of cancellation, full refund of the registration fee minus 15% for administrative costs may be obtained up to three months before the course and 50% of the fee up to one month before the course. No refund will be made if the cancellation request is postmarked less than one month before the start of the course.

Reduced fees

ESTRO members from economically challenged countries may register at a preferential rate of 350 Euro if three conditions are met:

1. Only ESTRO members for 2021 are eligible (please make sure your 2021 membership is in order before you apply for the reduced fees)
2. Only one course per person per year can be subsidized by ESTRO
3. Sponsored candidates are not entitled to reduced fees (the invoicing address has to be the one of the participant)  

Please note: