Medical Physics & Cyclotrons Dr. Benito de Celis Alonso 1,2 1 FCFM-BUAP 2 Fundación para el Desarrollo Carlos Sigüenza
Index 1.Which are the general activities of a Medical Physicist. (Research and Clinical). 2.What do Medical Physics do in Nuclear Medicine? 3.What do medical Physicists do with Cyclotrons? 4.What I wish we have in the cyclotron facility. 5.What could we do with our Cyclotron? 6.What do we have in FCFM medical physics related. 7.Conclusions.
Medical Physics, Clinical. Clinical Medical Physicists: Radiation protection. (protection of staff and patients and design of radiation installations. Radiotherapy. (treatment planning, dosimetry). Non-ionising diagnostics (magnetic resonance, ultrasounds, etc.). Ionising diagnostics (X-rays, fluoroscopy, CAT, nuclear medicine, etc.). Radio-pharmacy. Electrical and Optical maintenance. Equipment performance, quality control in imaging systems.
Medical Physics, Research. Research Medical Physicist. Research in thousands of multidisciplinary topics. In FCFM we are focusing in: Medical Image analysis Instrumentation for Radiation Detection Mathematical Analysis of physiological signals as well as images.
What do Medical Physics do in Nuclear medicine? Clinical 1.Planning of new facility. 2.Acceptance tests (imaging and non-imaging equipment). 3.Responsible for quality assurance (QA) program equipment. 4.Performance of Radiation Safety instruments. 5.Ensure systems operate at optimum performance. 6.Algorithms and their development. (Estimation of physiological functions) 7.Image processing, quality and archiving. Radiation Safety 1.Develop of radiation safety program in nuclear medicine. 2.Plan and specify thickness, material, and placement of shielding 3.Perform internal radiation dosimetry (estimating organ doses). 4.Calculation and estimation of the radiation dose of unborn children. 5.Dosimetry and radiation monitoring. 6.Fulfill the requirements and follow-up licenses required by International and national authorities. Academic Clerical
What do Medical Physics do with Cyclotrons? Operation of the cyclotron and radiochemistry equipment. Manufacture routine and research PET radiopharmaceuticals Fulfill good manufacturing practices, quality control and regulations (radionuclides). In-vault repairs. Isotope transfers, packaging, etc. Radiological waste operations. Monitor budgets. Help in design and/or construction projects related to cyclotron upgrading. Instruct support staff in complex operational procedures. Serve as a project leader and provide expertise to accelerator users and support staff. Perform calculations and analysis of complex data in order to complete subsystem designs and direct technical staff. Assist in locating potential vendors and managing procurements. Liaison between company Cyclotron engineers and the department (clinical).
What I wish we have in our Centre As a medical physicist I could work much better with equipment associated to the cyclotron: PET suite (humans and/or animals). Other Nuclear Medicine equipment (SPECT, Gamma Cameras, etc.). Medical Imaging Facilities (MR). Or even better. PET-MRI, PET-CT. Laboratory for the development of electronic components associated with cyclotrons. Laboratory of radiation detection and measurement equipment. Laboratory for medical instrumentation equipment. Radiation protection Laboratory. Radio pharmacy Laboratory. Biological aspects. Nanoparticle Lab. Animal facilities. Computer facilities capable of massive data analsyis.
What could we do with our Cyclotron? Provide a clinical service to the university community (HU) as well as the whole region (IMSS). Provide a teaching facility for Medical Physicist at a clinical level. Provide a teaching facility for medical students. Specialist in nuclear medicine and some very specific Radiotherapies. Provide a teaching facility for accelerator physicist and instrumentalists. Clinical trials. Some lines of research could be: Neurodegenerative illness (finding better biomarkers and better radionuclides). Combination of MR and Nuclear Medicine techniques. (Diffusion, functional and spectroscopy). 1.Early detection of tumour activity in human body. 2.Myocardial viability and recovery. 3.Brain plastic changes after trauma or during normal learning processes. Combination of radionuclides with viruses or nanoparticles. Development of specific radiotracers for research in specific illnesses. Development of detection equipment for better dose monitoring. Instrumentation improving diagnostic equipment (crystals, electronics, chips, reconstruction algorithms, etc.). Don’t include accelerator equipment here.
What we have in FCFM Research group (5 Professors, 21 Students). Small Lab partially equipped. (ultrasounds, x rays, etc.). Research collaborations with: CERN, King´s College London University Erlangen. Clinical Collaborations with 4 Hospitals in Puebla as well as: Hospital infantil del DF. INNN. ININ GEA Rodríguez. Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría
Conclusions. From the Medical Physics point of view this project would be fundamental to develop clinical teaching as well as research in many different lines of work. Failing to complete a centre like this will leave the medical physics department of the university completely limited and stranded with respect to possible future development.