Applied Physics for Radiation Oncology, Revised Edition
Author: Robert Stanton and Donna StinsonISBN: 9781930524408
Published: 2009 | 292 pp. | Softcover
Price: $ 105.00
Radiation Therapist, Vol. 19, No.2 | Fall 2010
To comply with educational requirements, radiation therapy students must complete 1 or 2 semesters in radiation physics, and this book is written to help. The common required readings for these classes are The Physics of Radiation Therapy by Faiz Kahn and Radiation Therapy Planning by Gunilla Bentel. Because medical physicists use these 2 books to study for their master’s degree, they contain more in-depth information than radiation therapy students require. Applied Physics for Radiation Oncology delivers just the right amount of instruction. The chapters are well divided and designed to give readers insight without overwhelming them.
Although the target audience appears to be radiation therapy students, this book is an extremely useful reference and review tool for practicing R.T.s, from new grads to seasoned therapists. It could accompany the likes of Kahn and Bentel on radiation therapy bookshelves in any department. The book is straightforward and uses analogies that allow the reader to grasp the material fully. It offers enough information to reiterate the concepts while demonstrating the detail to support the main points of each chapter.
I am impressed thoroughly by the introduction of relatively new techniques because it is extremely important to stay up to date on emerging procedures in the field. The book introduces tomotherapy, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) detectors, gating and image-guided radiation therapy procedures and the foundation upon which they were developed. It is hard to publish books fast enough to stay abreast of new techniques while filtering out fads. However, this book did a great job of introducing important, universal techniques. I also am glad to see the emphasis on computer-driven equipment and the technology behind it. Almost every department is computer based and therapists must be aware of the fundamentals.
The book is written with a student in mind. It is simple but informative, educational but not overwhelming. There are great correlations within the text that allow the reader to relate the information to daily activities (e.g., “if the nucleus was a basketball”). Most of the tables, graphs and descriptions are easy to read; however, a few seem misplaced. The questions at the end of each chapter focus on the main points and allow the reader to practice useful calculations.
Each of the book’s 17 chapters begins with learning objectives and ends with problems. The answers to each problem appear in 1 of 7 appendices. Other appendix sections contain a glossary, signs and symbols, constants and units, dosimetry tables needed for calculations, radioactive nuclides and elements. The back of the book also includes a periodic table of elements that is useful for radioactive decay calculations.
Applied Physics is organized in a way that makes it simple to find anything you need. Many times, I have been frustrated looking for topics I cannot find in reference books; however, I did not have that problem in this text. I love how it starts slowly and eases readers into physics rather than intimidating them with overwhelming information. As far as chapter layout goes, the only piece I would change is moving the electron chapter before the photon chapter.
In addition, I have to say the paperback text is the way to go. It allows for flexibility, especially when you have multiple books to carry. The book is compact, but still has a legible font size. The text has some useful images and graphs to reiterate the information. On Pages 230, 231 and 254-264 there are figures that show treatment techniques. It would be nice to see them on CT images, the same way you would see them in clinic. Figure 15.2 is a black and white CT image with isodose lines, but it would be more useful in color. Figure 14.15 is by far the best demonstration I have seen to explain the equivalent path length calculation.
Overall, this text is a great addition to the radiation therapy curriculum and a wonderful review tool for staff radiation therapists. I recommend this text to students, teachers and colleagues alike, and look forward to handing it to a fellow employee currently studying for her medical dosimetry boards.
Lucy Chittenden, BS, R.T.(T), CMD
Chief Radiation Therapist
Cancer Center of Irvine
Irvine, CA