HACKENSACK, N.J., Mar. 5, 2008—Carmen Figueroa, C.M.D., a certified medical dosimetrist at The Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, will present her research in prostate cancer treatment at the annual meeting of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists in June. The meeting, to be held at the Cleveland Marriott Renaissance from June 22-26, brings together medical dosimetrists and other radiation oncology professionals from all over the world to share their research and obtain the most up-to-date knowledge about the use of radiation therapy to treat cancer and other illnesses.
“This year’s meeting will be the third out of four annual meetings of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists that featured one of our faculty as an invited speaker,” says Joseph Hanley, Ph.D., director of medical physics for the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center. “We are proud that the research of Carmen Figueroa and other medical dosimetrists in our Department of Radiation Oncology is keeping us at the leading edge of medical dosimetry on a national and international level.”
Figueroa will discuss “Rapid Prostate Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning without Optimization” at the annual meeting.
“Our Department of Radiation Oncology is particularly strong in the use of different methods of radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer, including intensity modulated radiation therapy and brachytherapy,” says Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., chairman and executive administrative director of The Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center.
A medical dosimetrist, like Figueroa, is an integral part of the radiation oncology team. Under the supervision of radiation oncologists and medical physicists, medical dosimetrists design treatment plans for patients based on the radiation oncologist’s prescription. They must determine a treatment field technique that will deliver the prescribed dose of radiation without harming other areas of the body that may be affected, such as the eyes, heart, or spinal cord. They use computer or manual computations to develop a treatment plan and an intimate knowledge of the treatment machines and equipment that must be used to deliver the radiation dosage. To become certified like Figueroa, a medical dosimetrist must complete additional years of training after completing college.
The Department of Radiation Oncology at The Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is one of the largest in New Jersey and in 2007 recorded 2,900 patient visits. The department provides the most sophisticated radiation therapy treatment available today, including TomoTherapy, brachytherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy, and the newest type of brachytherapy, accelerated partial breast irradiation, which accomplishes treatment for breast cancer in five days instead of the seven weeks required of traditional external beam radiation therapy.
The Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey’s largest and the one ranked the best cancer center in the state by New York magazine. The Cancer Center focuses on transforming cancer care by offering multidisciplinary care, personalized treatment, innovative research, superior outcomes, and patient satisfaction within 14 disease-specific, treatment, or research divisions. For more information about The Cancer Center, call 201-996-5900 or visit www.humc.com.