2025-2026 MCW Radiation Oncology Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 26
2025-2026 Medical College of Wisconsin, Radia琀椀on Oncology Annual Report
MR-guided brachytherapy work has con琀椀nued to evolve for the MCW team. With the replacement of the Verio
scanner with the Vida MR scanner in 2022, the MR space has been adapted to become a procedural space. With
the exper琀椀se of Eric Paulson PhD, and team, the use of Augmented Reality has been brought to MR-guided
brachytherapy for pa琀椀ents with certain types of gynecologic cancers that require inser琀椀on of mul琀椀ple catheters
into the tumors to best deliver radia琀椀on boost doses to disease remaining a昀琀er external beam. Now, with AR
goggles in place, key MR images appear in the goggles of the radia琀椀on oncologist as the needles
are inserted, to help guide each needle into the op琀椀mal loca琀椀on while the pa琀椀ent lies sedated in the MR
scanner. Once catheter inser琀椀on is complete, an MR plan is generated which the pa琀椀ent receives later that
day as the first of three to five inpa琀椀ent treatments. This AR/MR guidance leads to more accurate and ideal
placement of the inters琀椀琀椀al catheters and decreases the 琀椀me needed to create the radia琀椀on plan. FMLH/MCW
is the first ins琀椀tu琀椀on in the US to use AR/MR guided brachytherapy led by Chief of Physics, Dr. Eric
Paulson, inventor of the AR glasses, and so昀琀ware and hardware innovator.
The Radia琀椀on Oncology team has expanded over these decades. Dr. Chris琀椀na Small-Tom joined the Gyn
brachytherapy team in 2024 with a passion for brachytherapy and special interest in radiomics and
improvement in systems-based prac琀椀ces. The physics team now also includes Natalya Morrow, PhD, Phillip Prior,
PhD, and Asma Amjad, PhD. The Radia琀椀on Oncology brachytherapy team does not do its work alone. The
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