The GEC ESTRO Handbook of Brachytherapy - Introduction

Editors - Acknowledgements

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THE GEC ESTRO HANDBOOK OF BRACHYTHERAPY Version 4 - 01/09/2023

EDITORS OF “THE GEC ESTRO HANDBOOK OF BRACHYTHERAPY” 2ND EDITION

Bradley Pieters Course director basic ESTRO Teaching Course “Comprehensive and Practical Brachytherapy” Erik Van Limbergen Former course director basic ESTRO Teaching Course “Modern Brachytherapy Techniques”

Richard Pötter Former course director advanced ESTRO Teaching Course “Image-Guided Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy in Gynaecologic Cancer – Focus on Adaptive Brachytherapy”

Peter Hoskin Course director advanced ESTRO Teaching Course “Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer” Dimos Baltas and Panagiotis Papagiannis Course directors advanced ESTRO Teaching Course “Advanced Physics for Brachytherapy”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This second edition of the GEC-ESTRO Handbook of Brachytherapy is developed out of the strong roots of the first edition. Therefore, we wish to express our gratitude to all the authors and editors that have contributed to this standard work on brachytherapy and spe cially to those who retired or left the field to explore other (professional) challenges of life: Alain Gerbaulet (“father” of the first edition), Jean-Jacques Mazeron and Harm Meertens as editors; Dan Ash, Edith Briot, Eric Lartigau and Pierre Scalliet as contributors. Their work formed the base for new developments in the brachytherapy world. These new developments have been growing through the different working groups of GEC-ESTRO: Braphyqs (chair Frank–André Siebert following Jack Venselaar), the Gynaecologic Working Group/Gyn GEC ESTRO network (chair Kari Tanderup and Richard Pötter following Christine Haie-Meder and Christian Kirisits), UroGEC (formerly “Probate”) chair Peter Hoskin following György Kovács, Jan Battermann and Dan Ash, the Breast Working Group (chair Jean-Michel Hannoun-Levi following Vratislav Strnad, Csaba Polgár and Erik Van Limbergen), the GI-GEC (formerly Anorectal Working Group) (chair Alexandra Stewart following Arthur Sun Myint and Didier Peiffert), the Head and Neck and Skin Working Group (chair Luca Tagliaferri following György Kovacs and Jean Jacques Mazeron), Brachy-HERO Working group (chair Peter Niehoff following Li-Tee Tan) and two working groups which were active for a limited time period, the Pattern of Care Working Group (chaired by Ferran Guedea) and the Endovascular Working Group (chaired >20 years ago by Richard Pötter). Without their continuous activities in research and development, in scientific discussion and dissemination, in education and training and in the design of recommendations and guidelines many of the develop. as elaborated in this book would not have become possible. We also thank all those who have been teaching modern brachytherapy in the different (GEC)-ESTRO brachytherapy Courses over the last 30 years. The input through so many people, coming from different places from North to the South and from the East to the West of Europe and abroad needed an extra editing input to arrive at a common and correct “native” English language throughout all chapters. Our sincere thanks go to Professor Ann Barrett who is doing this job like for the first edition in an extraordinary meticulous way. Finally, we want to express our gratitude to Daneel Bogaerts who is responsible for the layout of the book and Essi Saarto (formerly Melissa Vanderijst) who handles the book on the ESTRO’s E-Libraray, both working in the ESTRO office.