Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schlegel studied Physics at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Heidelberg. He is the head of the Medical Physics department at the German Cancer Research Center (dkfz) in Heidelberg and Professor for Medical Physics at the University of Heidelberg.

Prof. Thomas Bortfeld studied Physics at the Universities of Hannover and Heidelberg. He received his training in Medical Physics at the DKFZ in Heidelberg. He is now the Director of Physics Research in Radiation Oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Anca-Ligia Grosu studied medicine in Cluj (Romania) and received her MD in Radiation Oncology at the Technical University of Munich. She is the Head of the Brain Stereotactical Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery Group of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Technical University and the Vice-President of the Neuro-Oncology-Group at the Tumour Center in Munich.

This book provides an overview of recent advances in radiation oncology, many of which have originated from physics and engineering sciences. The new technologies in this field have a complex physical, mathematical and technical background that technical assistants, dosimetrists, and physicians frequently find difficult to comprehend. However, this book is specifically designed to be readily understandable by professionals and students with a medical background as well as by newcomers to radiation oncology from the field of physics. All relevant areas of the subject are covered in detail, including 3D imaging and image processing, 3D treatment planning, modern treatment techniques, patient positioning, and aspects of verification and quality assurance.

New Technologies in 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy: Introduction and Overview.- 3D Reconstruction.- Processing and Segmentation of 3D Images.- 3D Visualization.- Image Registration and Data Fusion for Radiotherapy Treatment Planning.- Data Formats, Networking, Archiving and Telemedicine.- Clinical X-Ray Computed Tomography.- 4D Imaging and Treatment Planning.- Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Radiotherapy Planning.- Potential of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Radiotherapy Planning.- PET and PET/CT for Radiotherapy Planning.- Patient Positioning in Radiotherapy Using Optical-Guided 3D Ultrasound Techniques.- Definition of Target Volume and Organs at Risk. Biological Target Volume.- Virtual Therapy Simulation.- Dose Calculation Algorithms.- Monte Carlo Dose Calculation for Treatment Planning.- Optimization of Treatment Plans, Inverse Planning.- Biological Models in Treatment Planning.- 2D and 3D Planning in Brachytherapy.- Beam Delivery in 3D Conformal Radiotherapy Using Multi-Leaf Collimators.- Stereotactic Radiotherapy/Radiosurgery.- Extracranial Stereotactic Radiation Therapy.- X-IMRT.- Control of Breathing Motion: Techniques and Models (Gated Radiotherapy).- Image-Guided/Adaptive Radiotherapy.- Predictive Compensation of Breathing Motion in Lung Cancer Radiosurgery.- Proton Therapy.- Heavy Ion Radiotherapy.- Permanent-Implant Brachytherapy in Prostate Cancer.- Vascular Brachytherapy.- Partial Breast Brachytherapy After Conservative Surgery for Early Breast Cancer: Techniques and Results.- 3D Quality Assurance Systems.- Quality Management in Radiotherapy.