Radiation Oncology Course

Lesson 1 • Radiation Safety and Protection

Covers ALARA principles, shielding design, and occupational dose limits. Ensures safe working practices before students enter clinical environments.

Lesson 2 • Ionizing Radiation Physics

Introduces photon, electron, and particle radiation types and their interactions with matter. Links physical properties to clinical dose deposition.

Lesson 3 • Radiation Oncology Clinical Team

Defines roles of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, and therapists. Establishes interprofessional communication as a patient safety foundation.

Lesson 4 • Radiobiology Core Principles

Explains the 5 Rs of radiobiology and the linear-quadratic model. Connects biological response to fractionation decisions made in clinical practice.

Lesson 1 • Advanced Photon Delivery Techniques

Covers 3D-CRT, IMRT, VMAT, and SBRT as progressive refinements of dose conformality. Builds on EBRT basics to show how technology improves therapeutic ratio.

Lesson 2 • Brachytherapy Principles

Introduces intracavitary, interstitial, and surface brachytherapy using sealed radioactive sources. Connects inverse-square law physics to clinical dose distribution.

Lesson 3 • Systemic and Targeted Radionuclide Therapy

Covers radioiodine, radiopharmaceuticals, and targeted alpha therapy as systemic radiation approaches. Distinguishes systemic from external beam delivery and dosimetry methods.

Lesson 4 • Particle Therapy Fundamentals

Explains proton and heavy-ion therapy physics, including the Bragg peak advantage. Compares particle therapy to photon EBRT for dose sparing of normal tissue.

Lesson 1 • CT Simulation Workflow

Details the CT simulation process from patient positioning to image acquisition and export. Establishes simulation as the geometric foundation of every treatment plan.

Lesson 2 • Immobilization Devices and Reproducibility

Covers thermoplastic masks, vacuum bags, and stereotactic frames for site-specific immobilization. Links immobilization accuracy to setup margin and plan quality.

Lesson 3 • Multimodality Image Fusion

Explains rigid and deformable registration of CT, MRI, and PET datasets. Demonstrates how fusion improves target delineation accuracy over CT alone.

Lesson 4 • MRI Simulation and MR-Linac

Covers MRI-only simulation workflows and integrated MR-linac systems for online adaptive therapy. Extends simulation knowledge to emerging soft-tissue imaging platforms.

Lesson 1 • Contouring Techniques and Tools

Covers manual, atlas-based, and AI-assisted contouring tools within treatment planning software. Builds practical contouring skills on real patient datasets.

Lesson 2 • Pelvic and CNS Target Volumes

Addresses prostate, cervical, rectal, and brain tumor volume delineation. Emphasizes MRI fusion for soft-tissue target definition in these sites.

Lesson 3 • Head and Neck Target Volumes

Applies ICRU concepts to primary tumor and nodal volumes in head and neck cancers. Addresses complex anatomy and elective nodal irradiation decisions.

Lesson 4 • Thoracic and Abdominal Target Volumes

Covers lung, esophageal, and upper abdominal tumor contouring with motion considerations. Integrates 4D CT and PET fusion skills from the simulation chapter.

Lesson 1 • Plan Evaluation and Dose Constraints

Teaches DVH-based plan evaluation using published OAR dose-volume constraints. Ensures students can judge plan acceptability before clinical approval.

Lesson 2 • Beam Arrangement and Dose Optimization

Covers beam angle selection, field weighting, and inverse planning optimization objectives. Teaches students to balance target coverage against OAR sparing.

Lesson 3 • Treatment Planning System Fundamentals

Introduces TPS architecture, dose calculation algorithms, and plan data management. Provides the technical foundation for all subsequent planning exercises.

Lesson 4 • Dose Prescription and Fractionation

Explains conventional, hypofractionated, and ultra-hypofractionated prescription schemes. Links alpha/beta radiobiology to fractionation selection for each disease site.

Lesson 1 • Error Reporting and Safety Culture

Addresses near-miss reporting, root cause analysis, and prospective failure mode analysis. Builds a safety culture mindset essential for high-reliability radiation oncology practice.

Lesson 2 • Patient-Specific Plan Verification

Introduces independent dose calculation, phantom measurements, and log-file analysis for plan verification. Confirms that delivered dose matches the approved treatment plan.

Lesson 3 • In Vivo Dosimetry

Explains diode, MOSFET, and EPID-based in vivo dosimetry for real-time delivery verification. Adds a final safety layer beyond pre-treatment plan QA.

Lesson 4 • Image-Guided Radiation Therapy

Covers kV imaging, CBCT, and surface-guided RT for daily patient setup verification. Links IGRT protocols to setup margin reduction and plan accuracy.

Lesson 1 • Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Cancers

Addresses rectal, pancreatic, prostate, bladder, and cervical cancer RT. Covers adaptive brachytherapy for cervix and stereotactic approaches for prostate.

Lesson 2 • Thoracic Malignancies

Covers NSCLC, SCLC, esophageal, and thymoma RT management. Applies SBRT for early-stage lung and concurrent chemoradiation for locally advanced disease.

Lesson 3 • Breast, Lymphoma, and Pediatric Tumors

Covers breast conservation RT, lymphoma field design, and pediatric tumor management. Emphasizes late-effect minimization in long-term survivors.

Lesson 4 • Head and Neck Cancers

Addresses definitive and postoperative RT for oropharyngeal, laryngeal, and salivary gland cancers. Integrates concurrent chemotherapy and xerostomia-sparing IMRT techniques.

Lesson 1 • Acute Radiation Toxicities

Covers mucositis, dermatitis, fatigue, and nausea as common acute effects by site. Links acute toxicity mechanisms to radiobiology of rapidly proliferating tissues.

Lesson 2 • Survivorship Care and Follow-Up

Designs structured survivorship plans addressing surveillance, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support. Prepares students to transition patients from active treatment to long-term care.

Lesson 3 • Organ-Specific Toxicity Management

Covers pneumonitis, proctitis, cystitis, and neurotoxicity as organ-specific late effects. Provides evidence-based interventions for each toxicity syndrome.

Lesson 4 • Late Radiation Toxicities

Addresses fibrosis, xerostomia, lymphedema, and secondary malignancy as late effects. Connects late toxicity risk to dose-volume parameters established in planning.