units

RTS5104

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

18 September 2017 31 December 2024

print version

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

Monash University

12 points, SCA Band 2, 0.250 EFTSL

Postgraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences

Coordinator(s)

Ms Catherine Osborne

Offered

Clayton

  • Second semester 2016 (Online)

Synopsis

This unit is the third and final unit dealing specifically with the principles and applications of radiation therapy planning and treatment. This unit will cover paediatric radiation therapy along with the central nervous, upper digestive, upper respiratory, endocrine systems, and organs of special sense. Students will analyse 3D imaging datasets, CT, MRI and PET and describe how they relate to individual patient management. Students will gain knowledge on the role and clinical applications of brachytherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, tomo-therapy and proton therapy. Whilst studying these topics, students will be encouraged to critically reflect, analyse and synthesis relevant information from the literature and reflect on their clinical experiences.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. Identify and describe in detail; structural and sectional anatomy, physiology, pathology and oncology related to paediatric tumours, upper respiratory, upper digestive, endocrine, central nervous systems, and organs of special sense.
  2. Critically analyse radiation therapy planning, treatment and verification techniques with reference to international standards, the evidence-base and personal reflections for the above tumour groups.
  3. Evaluate with reference to the evidence-base and personal reflections acute and late radiation therapy side effects, analysing patient care and management strategies related to the above body systems.
  4. Appraise the role of CT, MRI, PET and Ultrasound imaging for diagnosis, radiation therapy planning and treatment verification.
  5. Apply knowledge of anatomy and physiology to evaluate images for radiation therapy patients.
  6. Describe in detail brachytherapy principles, protocols, and techniques.
  7. Synthesis the principles and clinical applications of specialist radiation therapy techniques, including radiosurgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, tomo-therapy, and proton therapy.
  8. Demonstrate critical reflection on practice.

Assessment

Examination (3 hours) (50%)
Image recognition examination (1 hour) (20%)
Two assignments (3,000 words each) (30%)

Hurdle:
All elements of assessment must be passed to pass the unit.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Caroline Wright

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Radiography and medical imaging

Prerequisites

RTS4101, RTS4102, RTS4103, RTS5101, RTS5102, RTS5103, RTS5110.

Co-requisites

RTS5105, RTS5120.