Radiation Oncology: A Physicist's-Eye View
Radiation Oncology: A Physicist's-Eye View was written for both physicists and medical oncologists with the aim of helping them approach the use of radiation in the treatment of cancer with understanding, confidence, and imagination. The book w
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R ADIATION ONCOLOGY: A PHYSICIST’S-EYE VIEW Michael Goitein
Michael Goitein Harvard Medical School Boston MA, USA and Ankerstrasse 1 5210 Windisch Switzerland
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the time of going to press, neither the author, editors, or publisher accepts any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. Neither the publisher nor the author makes any warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007932210 ISBN 978-0-387-72644-1
e-ISBN 978-0-387-72645-8
Printed on acid-free paper. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
for Gudrun
PREFACE This book describes how radiation is used in the treatment of cancer. It is written from a physicist’s perspective, describing the physical basis for radiation therapy, and does not address the medical rationale or clinical aspects of such treatments. Although the physics of radiation therapy is a technical subject, I have used, to the extent possible, non-technical language. My intention is to give my readers an overview of the broad issues and to whet their appetite for more detailed information, such as is available in textbooks.1 I hope that this book will be interesting and helpful to radiation oncologists, to physicists, and to those who are curious about, but not yet engaged in, the field. I hope, too, that experienced practitioners can get something out of this book. However, it is directed primarily toward those just entering the field, and to those contemplating entering it – either from the physics or the medical side. I have been asked, “Will it help residents pass their board examinations?” I can make no promises; it is certainly not a cook-book of answers. But I think it could help. I have avoided formulae and quantitation so far as has been possible. I think that there is a schism between the descriptive methods that are useful in physics and those that are needed in medicine or biology. Physics is, to a large extent, a highly successful effort to explain physical phenomena through mathematical formulae. It is quite astonishing, for example, how much that happens around us is described by Maxwell’s four relatively simple equations. Such successes may sug
