Overview of medical physics education and research programs in a non-academic environment.

Northwest Medical Physics Center (NMPC) is a nonprofit organization that provides clinical physics support to over 35 radiation therapy facilities concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. Although clinical service is the primary function of NMPC, the diverse array of clinical sites and physics expertise has allowed for the establishment of structured education and research programs, which are complementary to the organization's clinical mission. Three clinical training programs have been developed at NMPC: a therapy medical physics residency program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP), an Applied Physics Technologist (APT) program, and a summer undergraduate internship program.

Localized irradiation of tumors prior to synthetic dsRNA therapy enhanced the resultant anti-tumor activity.

Background And Purpose: Despite the potent tumoricidal activity of the synthetic dsRNA in culture, its in vivo anti-tumor activity has proven to be limited. We sought to devise and validate a new strategy to improve the in vivo anti-tumor activity by integrating localized irradiation into dsRNA therapy.

Materials And Methods: Using a mouse lung cancer model and a mouse melanoma model in immuno-competent mice or athymic nude mice, we evaluated the combined anti-tumor activity using a synthetic dsRNA, polyinosine-cytosine (poly(I:C)).

Dosimetric uncertainties of three-dimensional dose reconstruction from two-dimensional data in a multi-institutional study.

Inconsistencies in the treatment planning process leading to dosimetric uncertainties may affect conclusions drawn from interinstitutional radiation oncology clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to assess the dosimetric uncertainties resulting from the process of reconstructing three-dimensional dose distributions from two-dimensional treatment plan information provided by participating institutions in a randomized clinical trial. This study was based on American College of Radiology Protocol #427, Locally Advanced Multi-Modality Protocol; a multi-institutional phase II randomized study involving radiation therapy for patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer.