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Particle therapy

Particle therapy

Journals award ‘best paper’ prizes

25 Sep 2018 Tami Freeman
Journals awards
Eric Ford (left) received the Roberts prize for the best paper in PMB, while Paul Hamelmann was the winner of the Martin Black prize for the best paper in PMEA. The prizes were presented by IPEM President Mark Tooley.

The Medical Physics and Engineering Conference (MPEC), held last week in York, saw the presentation of two illustrious awards: the Roberts prize for the best paper published in Physics in Medicine & Biology (PMB) during the previous year, and the Martin Black award for the best paper published last year in Physiological Measurement (PMEA). These annual prizes are jointly awarded by the journals’ publisher, IOP Publishing, and their owner, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).

Preclinical protons

The Roberts prize was awarded to Eric Ford and colleagues at the University of Washington for their development of a preclinical proton irradiation system (Phys. Med. Biol. 62 43). The paper, “An image-guided precision proton radiation platform for preclinical in vivo research”, describes a novel instrument that combines a proton beam produced by a medical cyclotron with a commercial CT-guided X-ray irradiator.

The researchers were motivated by the relative lack of in vivo preclinical data on the radiobiological effects of therapeutic protons. Noting the impact that precision preclinical X-ray irradiators have had on the understanding of radiation and molecular biology in cancer, they hoped that a precision proton irradiator would confer similar benefits.

Ford believes that the paper was chosen for the award due to the novelty of this platform, which integrates both image-guidance and precision proton beams. “Though image-guided radiators have been available now for about ten years and precision proton beams have been developed in some laboratories, this is a unique combination of these technologies,” he explains. “I think there is recognition of the novel experiments that can be done with such technology.”

The paper describes the technical aspects of the image-guided proton irradiator. Following its publication, the team has moved onto the “really important work” says Ford: the biological experiments. “We have an array of ongoing projects examining differential effects in tumours, potential enhancement with nanoparticles and radiation-mediated immunotherapy. We hope to develop collaborations with other groups outside the university. Since this is a unique platform in many ways, it would be useful to share resources.”

The researchers are also continuing technical development of the platform, and have recently created a micro-irradiator that deliver small slits of protons beams for experiments on spot or grid therapy.

“This award is a huge honour and recognition of hard work by a lot of people in our group,” Ford tells Physics World. “I am elated.”

Improved foetal monitoring

The Martin Black prize went to a team from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Philips Research and Máxima Medical Center, for the paper “Improved ultrasound transducer positioning by fetal heart location estimation during Doppler based heart rate measurements” (Physiol. Meas. 38 1821).

The award-winning paper describes a method to help clinicians in the positioning of an ultrasound transducer to measure foetal heart rate. Doppler ultrasound is the most common method used to measure foetal heart rate, but if the foetal heart is not accurately located within the ultrasonic beam such measurements may fail, necessitating time-consuming repositioning of the transducer.

To address this problem, the researchers developed a maximum likelihood estimation algorithm that provides information on the foetal heart location using the power of the Doppler signals received in the individual transducer elements. Simulations and experiments demonstrated that heart location could be accurately determined with an error of less than 7 mm within the measurement range of the transducer. This accuracy is high enough to help clinical staff position the transducer centrally above the foetal heart.

“The described method has the potential of really improving clinical workflow,” explains lead author Paul Hamelmann from TU/e. “In an often understaffed clinical environment, more robust measurements of the foetal heart rate can take the burden off the clinician’s shoulders, such that they can focus on the well-being of the mother and of the baby.”

Since the paper was published, Hamelmann and colleagues have improved their algorithm by making it more robust for measurements with low signal-to-noise ratio. This could be especially useful for mothers with a high BMI, where the quality of the Doppler signal drops due to increased ultrasound attenuation. The team has also developed a new flexible ultrasound array that could fully remove the need for well-positioned transducers as it measures foetal heart rate independently of foetal heart location.

“It is a great honour to receive this prestigious price and it motivates us to continue with this research,” says Hamelmann. “It clearly shows that the problems we are trying to solve are being recognized and that our work could have a real clinical impact.”

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