Training Report
I had the opportunity to receive advanced training in Proton therapy, at the Proton Medical Research Centre (PMRC), with the Department of Radiation Oncology, in University of Tsukuba Hospital, for a period of 6 months (07/05/2018 – 26/10/2018).
I am extremely grateful to Prof. Sakurai sensei, Director, PMRC, for giving me this opportunity. As a young specialist Radiation Oncologist, it was a truly a rich scientific experience, to train in one of the pioneering proton therapy centres in the world, under the guidance of a renowned and eminent faculty.
I had the opportunity to work with, and rotate through, the different, regional sub-specialty units, in the Radiation Oncology department, and I’m thankful to the entire faculty including Dr. Sakurai sensei, Dr. Tsuboi sensei, Dr Okumura sensei, Dr. Ishikawa sensei, Dr Nonaka sensei, Dr Mizumoto sensei, Dr Onishi sensei, Dr Murafushi sensei, Dr Mizoguchi sensei, Dr Numajiri sensei, Dr Nakao sensei, Dr Tony sensei, and Dr Nagasawa sensei for their support and guidance. The resident doctors helped me a lot to guide me through the tumour board conferences and help navigate the EMR records and planning system, and helping overcome my unfamiliarity with the Japanese language.
The opportunity to observe, assist and perform advanced proton therapy planning for various tumour sub-sites under the guidance of this eminent team, was a scientifically and academically rewarding experience. The large institutional experience in proton therapy in hepatobiliary cancers, prostate, lung, pediatric cancers etc and the many in-house protocols developed here will surely have an impact on my future clinical practice.
My training wouldn’t have been complete, without the wonderful Medical Physics team, led by Prof. Sakae sensei, as they introduced me to the physics and the radiobiology of proton therapy. Takei-san took a lot of time and effort to teach me the basics of proton therapy planning on the TPS during my initial days. I had the opportunity to visit the Ibaraki Neutron Beam Centre, as Prof. Kumada sensei introduced me to Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) and the future clinical trials, which are to be commenced soon.
I also had the opportunity to visit Kanagawa Cancer Centre, thanks to Dr Iizumi sensei, and was able to get an overview on heavy ion (carbon ion) therapy planning and treatment techniques.
I have to add that besides the clinical and departmental work, living in Japan for 6 months was a great experience and the team at the IMC – Dr Akiyama, Makiko-san, Omichi-san, Ishikawa-san and Mieko-san were wonderful and did their best to make life easier at every turn.
To summarize, the clinical training I received was invaluable and the academic experience was eye-opening, and I’m truly grateful for the guidance, help, and support of the entire team at Tsukuba University. どうもありがとうございました.