Physics at the Core of Our New Radiation Center

Swiftly, precisely, silently, millimeter-wide metal leaflets slide back and forth inside a radiation machine, dispersing powerful beams with a colander-like effect. Each tiny opening appears just long enough to let high-energy radiation fall on its intended target.

Normally the target is a tumor below the skin of a cancer patient, but on this particular day it is a series of prescribed underwater points in a 50-gallon test tank. The tank, part of an array of quality-assurance tests, sits in the spot where cancer patients lay on the treatment bed.

The assurance testing measures the power and shape of the radiation beams, says Ivan Brezovich, Ph.D., chair of the Division of Radiation Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology.

“The water-tank testing is a good approximation of the way radiation beams behave inside the body because humans are more than half water,” Brezovich says. “We have to commission each piece of radiation equipment before its use, whether it’s an existing piece of technology that has been moved or a new machine that has just been installed.”

The latest test was performed for a radiation machine the department moved to its new home in the Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Center, housed under the same roof as the new UAB Women & Infants Center.

Brezovich and his division colleagues ensure the radiation is confined to its target in treatment rooms sealed with thick concrete shielding and that the building’s power grid, safety locks and other machines work properly. The physicists also contribute tradition treatment plans and conduct research.

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