Abstract:
Radiation has been used for the treatment of cancer for over a century. Brachytherapy is a delivery method that introduces radioactive material directly into tumors (vs. using beams of radiation delivered from outside the body). The last decade has seen a period of rapid technological advancement for the clinical practice of brachytherapy that includes developments in robotic needle insertion devices, integrating electro-magnetic tracking technology, and customizing brachytherapy applicators to each individual patient with 3D printing technology. This talk is a snapshot of these recent brachytherapy technological advances and will conclude with a vision of where the field is going in the next 10 years.
Bio:
Dr. Cunha is an Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Radiation Oncology. And the Director of the Graduate Program in Medical Physics, a joint effort between Radiation Oncology and UC Berkeley’s Department of Nuclear Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in experimental particle physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. As a member of the BaBar collaboration, his thesis work explored subatomic particle interactions generated using the GeV-energy electron/positron linear accelerator at SLAC National Laboratory in Palo Alto, CA. Dr. Cunha specializes in all aspects of Brachytherapy including Optimization, Robotics, Electromagnetic (EM) Tracking, and 3D Printing applications.
