Tag: AAPM

This is me right now. Still have 2 1/2 days of stuff to cram into my brain.

Annual meeting’s over, and now I’m at the summer school. Lots of interesting sessions at the meeting. Didn’t learn anything groundbreaking, but I did learn a lot of new techniques for doing what I’m already doing, and got reminded about a bunch of stuff I should be doing or need to get around to.

It was a good meeting overall. Spent most of my time at the CT and PET/CT sessions which were all very good and very informative. Caught up with a few old friends too, which is always nice.

The AAPM summer schools are usually pretty interesting. To keep the costs down, they like to re-introduce (or introduce in some cases) attendees to the dorm experience. I think it’s a good thing because it also keeps people close by and provides lots of opportunities for post-session socializing. I’ve enjoyed all the summer schools I’ve been to, and I think this one should be a good one too. This one is a little more remote than past summer school’s I’ve attended, so that will be a little different.

I’ll be glad to get back home though.

The final day of the meeting. After this, it’s off to meet the sister and her family, and on to Vancouver BC for the reunion.

Yesterday’s AAPM Business meeting was an interesting look into the mechanics of running the AAPM. A little bit surprised by the low turnout, but from what I heard, a lot of people were leaving yesterday. I imagine attendance will probably be pretty thin today.

On the schedule for this morning:

7:30 (PDT) – PET Physics and Technology IV
Good information presented on designing shielding for PET and PET/CT facilities. Looking forward to the AAPM TG group report which is supposed to be coming out in MedPhys soon. Turns out shielding requirements probably won’t be as heavy as you might initially think provided you can get things laid out properly.

8:30 – Radiographic and Fluoroscopic Physics and Technology IV
Some good experiences presented by a former colleague with regards to testing newer fluoro equipment. I need to spend some time adapting some of my methods and introducing a few new ones.

10:00 – Advances in X-ray Radiography and Fluoroscopy
A few interesting presentations here, but skipped out early to start my vacation.

This is the last full day of the meeting. On the schedule for this morning:

7:30 (PDT) – PET Physics and Technology III
Good discussion on attenuation correction in PET. More interesting was the discussion toward the end about potential AC-induced artifacts.

8:30 – Radiation Safety and Risk Management III
Excellent presentation on how to calculate radiation dose estimates and discuss risks with patients, clinicians and media. Learned quite alot from this one.

10:00 – X-ray Fluoroscopy and Angiography: State of the Art
Interesting talks on some new developments in FP detectors. Mostly reflected work being done at SUNY Stonybrook and Buffalo.

13:00 – Burst of applause rings out from the technical exhibit area as the closing announcement is made.

15:30 – Teaching Diagnostic Physics to Radiology Residents

17:15 – AAPM Business Meeting

On the schedule for this morning:

7:30 (PDT) – PET Physics and Technology II
Lots of good info on the various corrections needed for PET imaging. Acceptance testing/QC topic was interesting too. I have a feeling our PET/CT (whenever we get it) is going to take up a good chunk of my time.

8:30 – Radiation Safety and Risk Management II
Topic was radionuclide therapy and patient release criteria. Thought it would be more general, but the focus was on I-131. Stuff I know already, so I skipped out half way through.

10:00 – Advances in CT Hardware, Algorithms and Applications
Good presentation on recent developments in CT by Dr Kalendar. He’s always a good source for learning what’s on the cutting and bleeding edges of CT. Interesting reconstruction techniques presented by Dr Pan.

12:00 – Lunch and posters
I had thought I’d be spending a few hours studying posters, but after about 30 minutes, I think I went through all the diagnostic related posters. Lots of therapy related posters on 4D CT and tumour tracking though. No Cat 2 CE credits there for me this year.

13:30 – Cone-beam CT
Some interesting talks on CBCT. Most of the equipment used involved FP imagers on therapy units or C-arm type set-ups.

16:00 – Maintenance of Certification Update
Very informative discussion on the ABR’s maintenance of certification efforts. Sounds somewhat onerous at first glance, but the majority of it really just amounts to documenting what most of us do on a daily basis anyway. I don’t think it will be so bad, except for the $1700 fee.

18:00 – AAPM Night out at the Museum of Flight