Department tasks
The main missions of the medical physics department:
- Guarantee patient radiation protection for therapeutic and diagnostic activities involving ionizing and non-ionizing radiation (radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, radiological imaging).
- Implement, supervise and/or carry out quality assurance and quality controls on medical devices using ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
- Work with medical teams to define needs and select medical devices.
- Work with medical teams to develop and implement new techniques.
- Cooperate with medical teams to improve patient care, diagnosis and treatment, in terms of quality and safety.
For the radiotherapy sector, the specific missions are to :
- Set up, supervise and carry out radiation metrology
- Set up, supervise and/or carry out dosimetric treatment planning.
Radiation protection: Guaranteeing the protection of personnel using ionizing radiation
- Job studies
- Radiological zoning
- Managing radioactive sources and waste
- Regulatory training
- Radiological incident management
- Regulatory watch
- Liaise with the relevant authorities (ASN, IRSN, etc.). Management of administrative authorization files
The team
Department Manager
- Alain BATALLA
Medical physicists
- BARRAUX Victor
- BATALLA Alain
- BEREJNY Philippe
- BERTAUT Cindy
- JAUDET Cyril
- LEBHERTZ Dorothée** (in French)
- LECHIPPEY Laëtitia
- LOISEAU Cédric
- COLLET Solène
- MOIGNIER Cyril**
- CORROYER-DULMONT Aurélien*
- SEBE Karine
- GUERIN Lucie
- ROZES Arnaud
- VELA Anthony**
(* Imaging engineer, ** Proton therapy)
Technicians
- 8 Dosimetrists (1 on the proton therapy site)
- 3 Physics technicians
- 1 Radiation protection technician
Care and Expertise
The Medical Physics Department provides expertise in X-ray beam metrology and quality control for medical radiation processes. The most complex therapeutic and diagnostic techniques are used on a daily basis (tomotherapy, Cyberknife, proton therapy, brachytherapy, respiratory-gated irradiation, total body irradiation, intraoperative irradiation, PET-CT, 4D scanning, etc.). The Medical Physics Department guarantees quality and safety by monitoring and optimizing protocols.
In Radiotherapy: "The right dose in the right place!" In Imaging: "The right dose for the most accurate image!"
Equipment
There are many different types of measurement and control equipment, using both the latest and most proven technologies:
- Point ionization chambers,
- matrix detectors,
- thermoluminescence,
- Delta 4 3D treatment plan quality control system,
- etc.
Research areas / Projects
Today, the department's main areas of research concern :
- The use of the 3D printer to produce :
- applicators for brachytherapy.
- 3D boluses for external radiotherapy (a bolus is a material of known density placed on the patient's skin to homogenize the radiation dose received in superficial, heterogeneous treatment areas).
- The value of alpha particles in the treatment of brain metastases.
What's more, the Physics Department is obviously heavily involved in clinical research protocols in Imaging and Radiotherapy.
Partnerships
At local level
- Collaboration with Caen's Corpuscular Physics Laboratory to develop new 3D radiation detectors
- Partnership with the CERVOxy team at Caen's CYCERON Center - ISTCT UMR 6030 Imaging and Therapeutic Strategies for Cerebral and Tumoral Pathologies unit.
- Collaboration with the University of Caen (IMOGERE) to train medical radiation protection officers (PCR médical).
At national level
Physicists: members of the French Society of Medical Physics (SFPM). PCR: member of the "Grand Ouest" Radiation Protection Network and the French Society for Radiation Protection (SFRP).
Publications
- Applicators for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment of cutaneous carcinomas: use of a 3D printer. Loiseau Cédric, Barraux Victor, Piantino Astrid, Kao William, Stefan Dinu, Lerouge Delphine, Silva Marlon / Journée Normande de Recherche Biomédicale, November 14, 2017.
- Use of the Hexamotion system coupled with the Delta4 detector for quality control of treatment plans in blocked inspiration. A. Basset, P. Berejny, L. Guerin, S. Collet, A Batalla / Poster, 56e Journées Scientifiques de la SFPM, June 14 - 16, 2017, Lyon.
- Radiation protection of a proton therapy facility. Alain Batalla, Benjamin Menard, Gilbert Pigree, Thomas Tessonnier, Anthony Vela and Jean-Louis Habrand / SFRP - Journées PCR - November 6-7, 2018 - Lyon
- 3D phantom and immobilisation device printing in medical imaging. L Bonnor, H Austins, A Batalla, S Collet, C Bertaut, L Lechippey, .../ Physica Medica 68, 52-53 2019
- Counterbalancing a change of acquisition time with reconstruction parameters on numerical PET. C Jaudet, G Foucras, K Weyts, E Quak, R Ciappucini, C Lasnon, A Batalla, ... / Physica Medica 68, 33 2019
- Gated 18F-FDG PET/CT of the Lung Using a Respiratory Spirometric Gating Device: A Feasibility Study
C Jaudet, T Filleron, K Weyts, D Didierlaurent, D Vallot, M Ouali, ... / Journal of nuclear medicine technology 47 (3), 227-232 - 2019 - Digital PET systems performances: A multicenter phantom based comparison in clinical environment. D Bourhis, C Jaudet, R Guerra, C Lasnon, A Edet-Sanson, P Salaun, .../ Journal of Nuclear Medicine 60 (supplement 1), 193-198 - 2019
- Radionuclide spatial distribution and dose deposition for in vitro assessment of targeted alpha therapy. Frelin AM, Roger T, Falzone N, Quan Lee B, Sibson NR, Vallis KA, Bernaudin M, Valable S, Corroyer-Dulmont A. / Medical Physics. 2020 (IF: 2.884)
- VCAM-1 Targeted Alpha-particle Therapy for Early Brain Metastases. Corroyer-Dulmont A, Valable S, Falzone N, Frelin AM, Tietz O, Toutain J, Sarmiento M, Divoux D, Chazalviel L, Pérès E, Sibson NR, Vallis KA, Bernaudin M. / Neuro-Oncology. 2020 (IF: 10.09)
Training courses
The Medical Physics department is involved in paramedical schools (IFMEM in CAEN, BTS in Flers and Le Havre), teaching medical physics to electroradiology technician students (imaging, radiotherapy, brachytherapy, radiation protection).
Those responsible for radiation protection at the CFB participate in training "Competent Persons in Radiation Protection (PCR)" in partnership with the University of Caen (IMOGERE).
The Medical Physics Department at the François Baclesse Center is accredited by the INSTN and the SFPM as a "host institution" for the training of young medical physicists (DQPRM). As such, it has been welcoming and training long-term trainee physicists (2 years) every year for the past 20 years.