Medical physicists helping to treat cancer

Patients undergoing treatments for cancer in the Department of Radiation Medicine at Loma Linda University Health will meet radiation oncologists, nurses, clinical staff, and radiation therapy technologists during the course of their treatments. Yet it’s rare that they meet individuals from another group, one that is equally important to their care: medical physicists and dosimetrits.

These are highly trained scientists and medical professionals who assist in providing ionizing radiation for treating tumors and malformations. Loma Linda University Cancer Center has a team of 15 of these personnel. The team serves up to 120 patients each weekday who receive X-ray and proton radiation therapy at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and X-ray therapy at satellite centers in Beaumont and Murrieta.

“The challenge of radiation treatment is to direct it to kill the tumor but not harm anything around it,” says team director Baldev R. Patyal, PhD, DABR, FAAPM. “Patients can feel assured that they are being healed by an unseen, unfelt radiation beam and that they are in good hands.”

The team works day and night — roughly a 70-30% split. During the day, they help physicians by developing treatment plans designed to administer the correct dose of radiation, delivered precisely in the right location. On evenings and weekends, staff must perform daily and monthly state-required quality assurance and calibration procedures on the treatment machines and associated software, as well as annual quality assurance routines that take several weekends to complete. The team also works closely with LLUH’s Office of Radiation Safety to assure compliance with state and federal regulations.

The team also has an educational function. Dr. Patyal founded and directs the department’s residency program in Therapeutic Medical Physics. He also founded an accredited certificate program in medical dosimetry, which has now graduated 30 students through the School of Allied Health Professions. Since radiation oncology is a technology-driven speciality, the medical physics team is heavily involved in physics research and development activities, and it also supports clinical research in the department.

Team members work with physicians and staff to treat all types of patients. It can be a joy to know how much they are helping someone to heal. It is an even greater joy to see pateints who are well again. One such patient was a six-year-old girl who had cancer. After her radiation treatments, her doctor determined that she was cancer-free. She came back to visit six years later, giving the staff opportunity to marvel at her wonderful, normal life as a 12-year-old.

“Can you imagine what a thrill that was for us?” Patyal says.

But there are heartbreaks too. Not every case ends successfully. Even with successful cases, some things can be difficult, such as watching very young patients being immobilized to receive treatment. “But overall, it’s a very fulfilling career, getting to help patients heal,” Patyal says. “We love our work.”