Praise for the first edition:"… Due to the broad range of topics covered and the clear, concise explanations, this text would be ideal for anyone wishing to study or refresh their knowledge of any central area of radiotherapy physics. IPEM Part 1 trainees in the UK (and any other trainee following a similar training programme elsewhere) in particular should take note … . Part 2 trainees will also benefit, especially in exploring the excellent source of referenced material. In comparison to other reference texts, the Handbook of Radiotherapy Physics is clear and also filled with many knowledgeable and useful observations and notes. … It is an excellent reference text and sits nicely on the shelf alongside your old copy of Williams and Thwaites."—SCOPE, December 2009"… comprehensive reference … With contributions from renowned specialists, this book provides essential theoretical and practical knowledge to deliver safe and effective radiotherapy." —Anticancer Research, 2009, Vol. 29"The editors have managed with great success to assemble the information submitted by the contributing authors and put it in a format that is concise, easy to read, and rich in content … it can serve as an excellent reference manual and resource." —Niko Papanikolaou, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Medical Physics, September 2008, Vol. 35, No. 9Praise for the second edition:"This is the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Radiotherapy published in 2007. The book is organized into 11 parts, each dealing with a self-contained subject area including but not limited to Fundamentals, Radiobiology, Equipment, Dose Measurement, Treatment Planning, Quality Assurance, Therapy with Unsealed Sources, and Radiation Protection. An additional part has been included at the end of Vol.2, which provides tables of physical constants and radiation interaction data. This textbook is meant to be a comprehensive handbook practical radiotherapy knowledge for both medical that covers theoretical and physics trainees and practicing medical physicists. It provides a good overview of theoretical knowledge along with a practical description of concepts. In keeping with the original intent of the first edition, this book is intended primarily as course book for physicists in training but could also act as a reference book for practicing radiation physicists. It is a useful supplement to classic radiotherapy textbooks; concepts are introduced very well and extensive references are provided if the readers require a more in-depth review. The editors and authors have wide ranging medical physics experience across the UK, Europe, and U.S.The text is very comprehensive, with sections covering classic topics in the field along with modern topics such as knowledge-based planning, artificial intelligence, and MR-guided linear accelerators. I especially appreciated the quality assurance (QA) part, which included chapters ranging from QA of treatment planning and treatment delivery to data communication with DICOM. Overall, this is a well-written handbook. Due to the extensive changes in the field of medical physics since 2007, this is a necessary and thoughtful update. The editors did a great job of assembling a huge amount of information. Given the breadth and scope of this text, along with the extensive bibliography, this handbook would be a great resource, especially for trainees and early career physicists."—Katelyn Hasse (University of California, San Francisco), in Medical Physics, The International Journal of Medical Physics Research and Practice (July 2022)The treatment of cancer by ionizing radiation – radiotherapy (RT) – has undergone continuous development since the early years of the twentieth century. This book, in two volumes (each containing the contents and index of the complete work) represents a comprehensive updating of the first edition (published in 2007). High-quality RT outcomes depend on close collaboration by radiation oncologists, therapy radiographers (aka radiation technologists), dosimetrists, physicists and, not infrequently, RT equipment engineers. Whilst this book is primarily written by physicists for physicists, some of the material should be useful, even essential, to anyone whose work involves radiotherapy, including those who train such professionals.The book is organised into eleven "parts", covering different topics, plus Part L – data tables – now including the stopping power and ranges of protons (up to 300 MeV kinetic energy) in elements, compounds and mixtures of medical interest. A total of 62 scientists – eminent specialists (from Europe, North America and elsewhere) – have produced the 61 chapters, including colleagues who did not contribute to the first edition. Parts A through C cover the fundamentals of the relevant physics, radiobiology and technology. Parts D through H give the practical information necessary for the support of external-beam RT: dose measurements, clinical beam properties, the computation of dose distributions in patient anatomy, treatment (aka dose) planning and quality assurance. RT delivered with radionuclides is described in Part I (brachytherapy) and Part J (unsealed sources aka "molecular radiotherapy"). Part K covers the radiation protection framework, with an emphasis on the legislation in the UK. We editors hope that our readers will learn as much from reading the book as we have by bringing the 2007 edition up to date. May they be inspired to continue the development of the scientific and technical basis of radiotherapy for the benefit of cancer patients worldwide. –Scope magazine, (December 2022)
