Curriculum Details

Curriculum

The training consists of 1364 hours of clinical training and 396 hours of formal classroom, laboratory exercises or modules. The curriculum is based on the AAMD curricular guide for training medical dosimetrists. The curriculum consists of 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, of integrated classroom and clinical instruction. Classes and clinical rotations are held within the Cancer Therapy and Research Center at UTHSCSA. Primary faculty for the school consists of board certified Radiation Oncologists, board certified Medical Physicists, and certified Medical Dosimetrists. The annual program is divided into three semesters as follows:

Fall

DOS 100 – Radiation Therapy
DOS 101 – Principles of Treatment Planning I
DOS 102 – Treatment Planning Practicum I
DOS 103 – Whole Body Cross-sectional Anatomy

Spring

DOS 200 – Advanced Radiation Therapy
DOS 201 – Radiation Biology
DOS 202 – Treatment Planning Practicum II
DOS 203 – Dosimetry Research
DOS 204 – Clinical Dosimetry Practice I

Summer

DOS 300 – Clinical Dosimetry Practice II
DOS 301 – Dosimetry Research II

Grading System

Student must maintain a 70% average in all courses to receive credit.  No incomplete grades are awarded, if a course is not completed, the student is dismissed from the program.  The grading scale is as follows:

A: 85 – 100     B: 71-84     C: 61-70     D: 55-60

Facility

MCC is an outpatient facility located in the San Antonio Medical Center area. The radiation therapy department treats about one hundred patients per day.

Imaging modalities

2 GE LightSpeed™ CT scanners

Linear accelerators

3 Elekta VersaHD with Agility MLC
1 Varian 23EX® (120 Leaf MLC)
1 NovalisTx™ Stereotactic unit with robotic capabilities

Record and verify system

Elekta® Mosaiq™ Multi-Access Software

External Beam Treatment Planning

Virtual simulation using GE Advantage Windows workstation
3D external beam treatment planning using Philips® Pinnacle3 treatment planning system (TPS)
Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) planning using the Pinnacle3 TPS
Monaco™ 3D and IMRT planning (research only)
Velocity software from Varian for deformable image registration
iPlan™ and Brain and Spine Elements from BrainLab® for SRS and SBRT planning

Brachytherapy Treatment Planning

High dose rate brachytherapy using the Elekta® Oncentra™ TPS
CT guided brachytherapy
Transrectal ultrasound prostate seed implants (TRUS) using the Prowess™ TPS
Low dose rate brachytherapy using Pinnacle3 TPS

Special Procedures

Total body photon irradiation (TBI)
Total skin electron irradiation (TSE)
Intravascular brachytherapy