James M. Metz, MD serves as Editor-in-Chief of OncoLink (www.oncolink.upenn.edu), the award winning Internet resource from the Abramson Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania that was founded in 1994. He leads OncoLinks mission to help cancer patients, families, health care professionals, and the general public find accurate cancer-related information online. Dr Metz earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Juniata College and a masters degree in Clinical Immunology/Microbiology from Hahnemann University. He later completed medical school at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson earning his medical degree in 1995. His residency was completed at the University of Pennsylvania where he was chief resident in 1999. He is currently an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Vice Chair of Clinical Division in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Associate Director for Clinical Services and Programs at the Abramson Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in the use of radiation for the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. His research interests include the clinical application of photodynamic therapy (PDT), as well as the utilization of complementary and alternative medications by cancer patients, and use of the Internet to provide cancer related information. He currently serves on the Proton Therapy Development Committee at the University of Pennsylvania. |
WORK EXPERIENCE Current: Director of Medical Physics and Dosimetry, ProCure Proton Therapy Center, Oklahoma City, OK 2005-2009: Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Columbia University, New York, NY 1999-2005: Senior Systems Engineer, General Electric Global Research, Schenectady, NY RESEARCH / CLINICAL INTERESTS: Monte Carlo Dose Calculations in Radiation Therapy Image Guided Radiation Therapy TEACHING: 2005-2009: Faculty Council of Columbia University Medical Center, NY 2005-2009: Taught a 3 credit course "Diagnostic Radiological Physics" to graduate students of Medical Physics CLINICAL MEDICAL PHYSICS EXPERIENCE Commissioning of Linear Accelerators, Brachytherapy Systems, Proton Therapy Systems, Treatment Planning, Dosimetry, QA Radiation Safet,y. SELECT PUBLICATIONS AND PATENTS: Abdalrahman A Al-Khalidy, Kapur A., Eberhard J., Souchay H., Shoemaker P., 2008, United States Patent 7349521 Compression paddle for mammography systems Rebecca C. Booi, Jochen F. Krcker, Mitchell M. Goodsitt, MatthewODonnell, Ajay Kapur, Gerald L. LeCarpentier, Marilyn A. Roubidoux, J. Brian Fowlkes and Paul L. Carson, Evaluating Thin Compression Paddles for Mammographically CompatibleUltrasound, Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 2007, Vol. 33, no. 3, Page 472-482. Alyassin A., Kapur A., 2007, United States Patent 7313259, Method, system and computer program product for multi-modality registration using virtual cursors Eberhard J., Alyassin A., Kapur A., 2007, United States Patent 7218766 Computer aided detection (CAD) for 3D digital mammography Lokhandwalla M., Kapur A., 2007, United States Patent 7299806 Compliant probe interface assembly Claus B. Kapur A., Eberhard J, 2005, United States Patent 6940943 Continuous scan tomosynthesis system and method Kapur A., Thomenius K, 2005, United States Patent Publication 20050288581 Acoustic coupling gel for combined mammography and ultrasound image acquisition and methods thereof Kapur A.,Carson P, Eberhard JW, Goodsitt M, et al, Combinationof digital mammography and 3D semi-automated breast ultrasound, Technologies in Cancer Research and Treatment, 2004, Vol. 3, no. 4, Page 309-410 Kapur A et al, 2003, United States Patent Publication 20030149364, Methods, system and apparatus for digital imaging Miften M., Wiesmeyer M., Kapur A., and Ma C.-M., Comparison of RTP dose distributions in heterogeneous phantoms with the BEAMMonte Carlo simulation system Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Page 21-31. Ma C.-M, Pawlicki T., Jiang S.B., Li, J.S., Deng, J., Mok E.C.,Kapur A.,Xing, L., Ma, L. and Boyer, A.L., Monte Carlo verificationof IMRT dose distributions from a commercial treatment planning optimization system, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 2000, vol.45, no.9 , Page: 2483-95. Deng J., Jiang, S.B., Kapur, A., Li J, Pawlicki, T. and Ma, C.-M., Photon beam characterization and modeling for Monte Carlotreatment planning, Physics in Medicine and Biology , vol.45, no.2 , Page: 411-27. Jiang S.B., Kapur A. and Ma C.-M, Electron beam modeling and commissioning for Monte Carlo treatment planning, Medical Physics, vol.27, no.1, Page: 180-91. Ma C. M, Mok E.C., Kapur A., Findley D., Brain S. and Boyer A.L., Clinical implementation of a Monte Carlo treatment planning system,Medical Physics, vol.26, no.10, Page: 2133-43. Kapur A., Ma C.-M, Stopping power ratios for clinical electron beams from a scatter-foil linear accelerator, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 1999, vol.44, no.9, Page: 2321-41. Kapur A., Ma C.-M, Mok E.C., Findley D and Boyer A.L., Monte Carlo calculations of electron beam output factors for a medical linear accelerator, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 1998 vol.43, no.12,Page:3479-94. |
Dr. Keole joined RMA in 2009 having spent the previous four years treating patients and conducting research at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Fla. where he specialized in the treatment of pediatric and prostate patients. Dr. Keole also served as an assistant professor at the University of Florida School of Medicine in Gainesville. He completed his residency at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, serving as chief resident from July 2002 through December 2003. Dr. Keole completed his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and received his M.D. from the Ross University School of Medicine, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. |
The mansucript with a title of 'In-vivo verification of proton beam path by using post-treatment PET/CT imaging' will be published in Medical Physics. The purpose of this study is to establish the in vivo verification of proton beam path by using proton-activated positron emission distributions. A total of 50 PET/CT imaging studies were performed on ten prostate cancer patients immediately after daily proton therapy treatment through a single lateral portal. The PET/CT and planning CT were registered by matching the pelvic bones, and the beam path of delivered protons was defined in vivo by the positron emission distribution seen only within the pelvic bones, referred to as the PET-defined beam path. Because of the patient position correction at each fraction, the marker-defined beam path, determined by the centroid of implanted markers seen in the posttreatment post-Tx CT, is used for the planned beam path. The angular variation and discordance between the PET- and marker-defined paths were derived to investigate the intrafraction prostate motion. For studies with large discordance, the relative location between the centroid and pelvic bones seen in the post-Tx CT was examined. The PET/CT studies are categorized for distinguishing the prostate motion that occurred before or after beam delivery. The post-PET CT was acquired after PET imaging to investigate prostate motion due to physiological changes during the extended PET acquisition.The less than 2 of angular variation indicates that the patient roll was minimal within the immobilization device. Thirty of the 50 studies with small discordance, referred as good cases, show a consistent alignment between the field edges and the positron emission distributions from the entrance to the distal edge. For those good cases, average displacements are 0.6 and 1.3 mm along the anterior-posterior DAP and superior-inferior DSI directions, respectively, with 1.6 mm standard deviations in both directions. For the remaining 20 studies demonstrating a large discordance more than 6 mm in either DAP or DSI, 13 studies, referred as motion-after-Tx cases, also show large misalignment between the field edge and the positron emission distribution in lipomatous tissues around the prostate. These motion-after-Tx cases correspond to patients with large changes in volume of rectal gas between the post-Tx and the post-PET CTs. The standard deviations for DAP and DSI are 5.0 and 3.0 mm, respectively, for these motion-after-Tx cases. The final seven studies, referred to as position-error cases, which had a large discordance but no misalignment, were found to have deviations of 4.6 and 3.6 mm in DAP and DSI, respectively. The positionerror cases correspond to a large discrepancy on the relative location between the centroid and pelvic bones seen in post-Tx CT and recorded x-ray radiographs.Systematic analyses of proton-activated positron emission distributions provide patient-specific information on prostate motion M and patient position variability p during daily proton beam delivery. The less than 2 mm of displacement variations in the good cases indicates that population-based values of p and M used in margin algorithms for treatment planning at the authors institution are valid for the majority of cases. However, a small fraction of PET/CT studies approximately 14% with 4 mm displacement variations may require different margins. Such data are useful in establishing patient-specific planning target volume margins. |
Dr. Hanne M. Kooy received her undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands followed by her master's and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University, during which time she participated in advanced studies at the Institute in Techniques and Concepts of High Energy Physics in the Virgin Islands. Dr. Kooy's research interests include technology applications in radiation therapy, proton therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy, dynamic conformal therapy, image analysis and visualization in radiation therapy and dose computational methods. |