Hello and welcome to this course! The NPAP - Medical Applications of Accelerators is one out of three courses in the Nordic Particle Accelerator Program (NPAP). Here you will be taken on a tour focusing on the medical applications of particle accelerators. You will see that there are two very important, but different, applications of accelerators in hospitals. The first application concerns radiotherapy of tumours and the other concerns the production of medical nuclides for diagnosis and treatment. Both will be included in this course and described through four modules. The first module offers the basic principles of radiotherapy from a medical and physics point of view. You there learn about the main components of the machines used for radiotherapy and get to know why radiotherapy is important for cancer treatments. The second module guides you through the different types of linear accelerators used in the machines for radiotherapy. It also describes the design of the treatment head. The design is important because it is the settings of the treatment head that determines the dose and the radiated region. It is also in the treatment head where the dose given to the patient is measured. In the third module you are introduced to proton therapy. In this type of therapy protons are first accelerated and then guided down to the tumour by magnets. The machines are considerably larger and more expensive than machines used for radio therapy. The module also offers a description and comparison between different types of accelerators, and explains how the protons interact with tissue. Also ions that are heavier than protons can be used in cancer therapy. This is described in the fourth module, where we also introduce you to the production of medical nuclides. You learn how the nuclides are produces in proton and ion accelerators and how the nuclides come into play at different places in hospitals. Medical nuclides are for instance used in Positron Electron Tomography, PET. Enjoy!
AP
Informative but the instructor was a bit monotonous. It was a bit hard to engage but I learned a lot about radiotherapy, its potential and its current flaws.
YI
If you want to delve in the medical aspect of physics, i would recommend this course to you
MR
Is it possible to send me the certificate. I already completed this course. ThanksMotiur
FR
Thank you for teaching and providing the opportunity of learning about radiotherapy and ion therapy.
CA
Excellent introduction with practical information on various commercial accelerators
MD
This course is very useful to everyone. I have to learn some different techniques, like homiao therapy, chemotherapy ect....
SA
Method to deliver lecture was excellent. Pattern to conduct quiz was good.
DB
The course content is good, nicely explained by video tutorials and notes. Good for beginner and learned about medical physics and its clinical application.
EK
Thanks for first, i learned from this course the structure and function of accelerator and i have also known difference kind of pronton therapy and how they are produced.
SM
It is very useful to me thanks alot for you,i hope you will be continue
AG
Very helpful and intorductory course on heavy ion therapy.
MS
I have enjoy this course because it is very useful course for human beings.
Showing: 20 of 74
Very useful to learn some more about how radiotherapy works and a good reminder of radionuclides and their use in medicine
I got very well knowledge about particles accelerators ,thank you coursera
There were a lot of errors in the lecture transcripts, and the lecturer's accent was so pronounced that correct transcripts would have been useful for anyone, let alone for someone who needs to rely solely on the transcript. Someone only reading might end up wondering what saxophones have to do with treatment rooms, and what on Earth is prime stalin dose profile... The solutions to the quiz questions were not obtainable from the course materials in many cases, especially the ones with calculations, and while they were mostly basic, to be frank I find it subpar course design to not make sure the material matches to the questions, without making it clear that the course requires the student to find information outside of the course material. The graded quizzes were identical to the practice quizzes, which makes them mindless repetition. Also, because the questions were vague in many cases, it would have been easier to do the practice quizzes with trial and error (unlimited tries) than finding out by googling what the question is about (the English of the questions wasn't always too easy to interpret).
This course is very useful to everyone. I have to learn some different techniques, like homiao therapy, chemotherapy ect....
Very nice course. It give me a clean overview of such interesting and challenging topic. Paolo
If you want to delve in the medical aspect of physics, i would recommend this course to you
The contents were good, the quizzes were decent and no disrespect to the professor who taught us, but I felt that he was very robotic and monotonous. the concepts weren't very well explained sometimes (especially in week 3) or maybe it was just hard for me.
The lecturer was extremely bland and made it a relatively boring lecture
It is my 3rd course with Coursera. I really enjoyed the first 2, but this one I must say I am disappointed. The oral expression of the speaker is not very good in english, there are errors in subtitles and sometimes inaccuracies in the statement.
The pronunciation was really bad and there were a lot of grammatical errors in both videos and readings.
Dear Sir,
I wish to apply for financial aid to allow me to enroll into for Coursera course: Medical Applications of Particle Accelerators (NPAP MOOC) organized by Lund University. i have completed the Course and i have not able to get certificate of completion.
Am presently final year Undergraduate students of biomedical engineering? Am not employed yet, so I could not be able avoid to pay for online certification verification though Coursera. I wish to apply for financial aid to enable me further this courses which will offer me opportunity to have access to the full course as well as certificate of participation after competition.
Above all, I will be very glad if my financial aid can be granted for me to have opportunity to enroll into this said program at free cost, in order to enable me acquire more knowledge in the area used in Medical Applications of Particle Accelerators (NPAP MOOC) used in programs for Biomedical imaging such as MRI, CT scan, and other image modalities using Medical Applications of Particle Accelerators (NPAP MOOC) and other various treatment available . Waiting to see positive feedback and to commence the program as soon as possible.
Thank you SIR.
IBRAHIM S U.
I am very grateful to be able to do this course with you. There are really few places where they teach and you can learn about a subject as exceptional as the medical application of particle accelerators. As a medical physicist, it has been a great help to me to strengthen already acquired knowledge and to learn new things. The videos and articles you have been exceptional. The way they teach is very good and Professor Lars Hjorth Præstegaard explains excellent, he is a great physicist. Once again thank you very much. Totally recommended.
It has been the best introductory course on Advanced Radiation Therapy, where it also introduces us to proton and heavy ion therapies in an easy and entertaining way. Simply incredible my experience in this brilliant and fascinating course. I want to go deeper with you. Thank you very much and a big hug from the Alto Hospicio Hospital, North of Chile.
El conocimiento adquirido en este curso fue de mucho provecho para mi, ya que pude mejorar mis conocimiento en el área de radioterapia para haces de fotones y electrones. Ademas, adquirir conocimiento en radioterapia para haces de protones e iones pesado. por ultimo, aprendí sobre las aplicaciones y produción de radionúcleidos.
Muchas gracias
This course is an excellent introductory to accelerator-based radiotherapy techniques used in cancer treatment. I am looking forward to involving an additional technique that is related to this category of cancer cures, which is the accelerator-based Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT).
This course helped me a lot as I am goingo to study a master in medical physcis. Now I have gain habilities that I can put into practise in the master. Thank you to the professor and to coursera for sharing the knowledge
I strongly recommend the course for many different professionals , students who work in Medical Physics field or have intention to work in this field. Also for the fellow colleagues who need replenish their knowledge.
Very detailed course on Medical Applications of Particle Accelerators. I am highly grateful to Prof. Lars Hjorth for his continued support. I have thoroughly understood the concepts pertained to particle accelerators.
Thank you for this introductory overview. It has been a great tool to revise my existing knowledge ( diagnostic imaging) and to learn something about the hardware, physics and radiopharmacy of radiation oncology.
My ambition is to become a medical physicist and Coursera helped me a lot to finish the course with certificate ,teaching was also awesome and satisfying,hoping to do another course and to learn the unknown.