Introduction
The Department of Medical Physics works in close association with the Department of Radiation Oncology for the radiation treatment and has expertise in related areas. The department is engaged in commissioning, calibration, Quality Assurance, treatment planning and troubleshoot the minor issues of treatment machines, to adhere to the radiation safety, Radiation facility layout designing, research and education.
There are total five Linear Accelerators, three Telecobalt machines for treatment one conventional 2D Simulator and one 4DCT Simulator. Department is also equipped with two High Dose rate (Ir-192) Brachytherapy remote-after-loading machines. The department is equipped with advance equipment for radiation dosimetry, machine and patient-specific quality assurance, radiation area monitoring, radiation protection, radiation safety and personnel monitoring equipment. The department also maintains all the safety indicators to the recommended levels as per Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The department closely interacts with the Radiological Safety Officers from other centers of TMC and provide the guidance accordingly.
The staff has acquired adequate expertise in all advanced treatment techniques like Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), image based three dimensional Brachytherapy, Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), Volumetric-Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT), Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), StereotacticBody Radiation Therapy (SBRT), Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and Adaptive Radiotherapy etc. In addition, the staffhas an opportunity to get trained in various international organizations/agencies/societies including International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), International Organization for Medical Physicist (IOMP), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) etc.
The Department assists and advises other departments in the institute like Nuclear Medicine & Molecular imaging, Radiology, Transfusion Medicine, Plastic Surgery and Tissue Bank regarding matters related to Radiation Safety, Radiation Source procurement and Radiation Source/waste disposal. In addition to that the Department also advises and assists other TMC centers across the country.
The staffs are invited as faculty at various scientific programs with their competent specialties in the country and outside the country. The department closely involved in the joint venture for development, testing and validation of RT equipment developed indigenously (BARC, RMC, RRCAT, BRIT, CDAC, SAMEER etc). The staff is also invited by various centers for helping them specifications of RT equipment. The staffs are on various committees of institution and other centers in the country.
The outreach efforts of the department are comprised of Research, Education, Internships and practical training designed to guide Radiation oncologists, Medical Physicists and Radiotherapy Technologists of Institutions having Radiation treatment facilities.
The department comprises nine Medical Physicists, three Technical officers, two Scientific Assistants, one Technician and one Secretary.