Medical Physics Graduate Program Faculty

Brad Murray, MSc, FCCPM

Clinical Professor, Division of Medical Physics, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta

Senior Medical Physicist, Dept. of Medical Physics, CCI

BEng (Engineering Physics: Saskatchewan -1985)
MSc (Medical Physics: Alberta -1990)

Fellow: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine
Member: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine

Research Interests:

Conformal Therapy

Conformal therapy is a technique that uses three dimensional imaging of the patient anatomy to precisely aim the radiation beam at the tumor while avoiding as much normal tissue as possible.

This technique requires registration of multiple imaging modalities such as CT and MR, and accurate beam modeling as well as precise patient immobilization. We participate in international multi-institution clinical trials aimed at improving the clinical outcome based on dose escalation through conformal techniques.

Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy

Intensity modulated radiotherapy uses computer optimization to determine the fluence profile of each beam such that the combination of all beams will provide a dose distribution that meets a predefined set of conditions.

The optimized fluence profiles can then be delivered through dynamic multi leaf delivery or through fixed modulators similar to traditional compensators.

Gated Radiotherapy

Gated radiotherapy for intra thoracic tumours is aimed at minimizing the amount of motion of the tumour due to breathing. The self-gating technique being developed here is based on having the patient hold their breath and allowing the patient the ability to turn the beam off whenever they need to breathe.

This system is easy to implement, and is very well tolerated by the patients. Initial feasibility tests have shown promising results, and a dosimetric evaluation is ongoing.

Selected Publications

D. Yee, M. Parliament, S Rathee, S. Ghosh, L. Ko, and B. Murray,
"Cone Beam CT Imaging Analysis of Daily Variations in Bladder Volume and Position during Radiotherapy for Bladder Cancer."
Int. J. Rad. Onc. Biol. Phys. 76(4) 1045-1053(2010).

B Burke, M Lamey, S Rathee, B Murray and B G Fallone,
"Radio Frequency noise from clinical linear accelerators."
Phys. Med. Biol. 54, 2483-2492(2009).

B G Fallone, B Murray, S Rathee, T Stanescu, S Steciw, S Vidakovic, E Blosser and D Tymofichuk,
"First MR images obtained during megavoltage photon irradiation from a prototype linac-MR system."
Med. Phys. 36, 2084-2088(2009).

C Kirkby, T Stanescu, S Rathee, M Carlone, B Murray and B G Fallone,
"Patient dosimetry for hybrid MRI-radiotherapy systems."
Med. Phys. 35, 1019-1027 (2008).

K Breitman, S Rathee, C Newcomb, B Murray, D Robinson, C Field, H Warkentin, S Connors, M MacKenzie, P Dunscombe and B G Fallone,
"Experimental Validation of the Eclipse AAA Algorithm."
J. App. Clin. Med. Phys, 8(2), pp.76-92, Spring (2007).

B Yaremko, T A Riauka, D Robinson and B Murray, A Alexander, A McEwan, W Roa,
"Thresholding in PET Images of Static and Moving Targets."
Phys. Med. Biol. 50, pp. 1-14, 2005.

B Yaremko, T A Riauka, D Robinson, B Murray, A McEwan and W Roa,
"Threshold Modification for Tumour Imaging in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Using Positron Emission Tomography."
Nucl. Med. Commun. 26(5), pp. 433-40, 2005.

A Alexander, A Murtha, B Abdulkarim, A Bistritz, S Halls, V Metha, B Murray, T A Riauka, R Urtasun, D Fulton and W H Roa,
"Prospective Characterisation of Serial Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Patients with Malignant Glioma Undergoing Radiotherapy."
Current Oncology, 12(1), pp. 18-22, 2005.

D Robinson, B Murray, L Underwood, S Halls and W Roa,
"Escalated Median Dose for Pituitary Macroadenomas Using Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy."
Medical Dosimetry 29(1), pp. 26-30, 2004.

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