Special Procedures
The following are descriptions of several special procedure research projects that our medical physicists are currently pursuing:
Total Body Irradiation (TBI)
Total body irradiation (TBI) is a specialized form of radiation therapy in which the entire body is treated with radiation, most commonly as part of the preparation for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. The goal of TBI is to help eliminate remaining cancer cells while also suppressing the immune system to improve the success of the transplant. Because the entire body is intentionally irradiated, one of the major challenges is delivering a uniform dose while minimizing radiation exposure to sensitive normal tissues such as the lungs, kidneys, and other critical organs.
Our research focuses on advancing and optimizing TBI techniques across a range of treatment approaches. For lower-dose TBI treatments, we utilize a lateral treatment setup that allows for efficient and highly reproducible whole-body dose delivery. For higher-dose treatments, we employ advanced treatment planning and delivery techniques including helical tomotherapy and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) to better spare critical organs such as the lungs and kidneys while maintaining adequate target coverage throughout the body.
A major component of our work involves developing automated scripting tools to standardize and streamline the complex treatment planning workflow for TBI. These automated processes help improve planning consistency, reduce manual workload, and significantly accelerate plan generation for patients requiring highly individualized treatments. In parallel, we are actively investigating new strategies to further optimize treatment delivery, improve dose uniformity, reduce normal tissue toxicity, and enhance the overall safety and efficiency of TBI treatments.
Total Skin Electron Therapy (TSET)
Total skin electron therapy (TSET) is a specialized form of radiation therapy used to treat diseases involving the skin, such as cutaneous lymphoma, by delivering radiation dose to the entire skin surface while minimizing dose to deeper tissues. Our research focuses on the clinical implementation and optimization of a new TSET program built around a custom-designed treatment frame that incorporates modular shielding panels. These adjustable panels allow for partial shielding of uninvolved regions of the body, helping to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure to normal tissues while preserving treatment coverage to diseased areas. In addition to improving patient comfort and setup flexibility, our work includes commissioning the system, validating dosimetric accuracy, and developing workflows to support safe and efficient clinical treatments.
