The Reference Center is housed in the academic building No. 10 (2 Lenin Ave.), at TPU School of Nuclear Science and Engineering. The opening ceremony was attended by Vadim Stepanov, director of Tomsk National Research Medical Center, and Evgeny Kulikov, rector of Siberian State Medical University."The opening of the center is a step to connect physicists and physicians, thus facilitating the transfer of the technologies we possess into daily clinical practice. Without this connection, physicists can develop anything and everything, but doctors will not be able to use it in practice, and they simply will not be aware of what researchers and developers are actually doing. We hope that with the help of our colleagues, we can also become one of the accreditation platforms for medical physicists, who are in great demand today. The Reference Center at TPU is a hub for the development of high-tech medicine in Russia, and we are open to cooperation,"
"Radiation diagnostics, therapy, and nuclear medicine technologies are highly demanded and effective, but at the same time the most complex and expensive ones. The newly created center will enable us to raise the training of specialists in radiotherapy and nuclear medicine to a new level. TPU is a key project partner in this field for Tomsk National Research Medical Center, so this is a strategic center not only for Tomsk Polytechnic University, but for us as well, and it will definitely be in demand," said Vadim Stepanov, Director of Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The center will have three main lines of activity: research, education, and expertise.
For instance, the center is currently developing domestic digital products for nuclear medicine. For example, the team of the center has already developed the TCP/NTCP Calculator, a digital assistant for radiotherapy planning. It accurately calculates the effectiveness of a dosimetric plan of photon radiation therapy for a particular patient, adjusting fractionation modes and course doses depending on a tumor radiosensitivity. The development of software for planning neutron radiation therapy is currently underway.
As regards education, the center will offer additional education and advanced training programs for technical (non-medical, i.e., medical physicists, dosimetrists) and medical personnel. The first course, Radiobiological Fundamentals of Radiation Therapy. Assessment of Radiation Therapy Effectiveness, has already been taken by Russian and foreign specialists in radiotherapy, medical physics, oncology, physics and radiation safety. Besides, this year the center aims to become a regional platform for compulsory accreditation of medical physicists.
The center is equipped with a unique for Russia virtual radiotherapy simulation system available only at Tomsk Polytechnic University. This is a complete digital simulator for medical physicists and medical personnel. It can be used to learn how to operate all modern linear and circular accelerators for photon, electron, and proton radiation therapy. The system is capable of testing the calibration of radiotherapy equipment, comparing several alternative treatment plans for the same patient, and evaluating errors in patient positions on a therapy table. The system has a set of real manual and virtual control panels for different types of accelerators, which train to work with such equipment.
As a center of expertise, the new unit will work on the documents, standards, and regulations that can be used at a clinic to improve the quality of medical care in radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, and radiation diagnostics.
