8 Applied Biophysics 



collaboration of physicist and doctor from the field of medical 

 radiology, the only one in which the writer could claim firsthand 

 knowledge. In radiation therapy the closest collaboration be- 

 tween radiologist and physicist is now recognized to be essential, 

 yet even to most nonmedical physicists the problems appear 

 strange and bewildering, and it is scarcely surprising that 

 medical radiologists find increasing difficulty in following the 

 detailed mathematical and physical studies of their techniques. 



We may -take the view that the medical man has so many 

 problems of his own that it is quite impossible and undesirable 

 for him to attempt to follow these details, and similarly the 

 physicist may find incomprehensible what is to the radiologist 

 the most elementary anatomy and pathology. Unless the medical 

 radiologist understands something at least of the power and 

 limitation of the physical methods, he will certainly not be able 

 to make the best use of his physical colleagues, who in their 

 turn will be unable to make relevant suggestions of alteration 

 in technique, or criticisms of present procedures, unless at least 

 superfically acquainted with the medical radiologist's mode of 

 speech. 



One of the most efficient ways of bringing together these two 

 groups of people with such dififerent training and, therefore, 

 outlook, lies in the regular attendance of the physicist at radio- 

 logical clinics, where he may see the difference between a neat 

 diagram of radiation fields and cancer in its anatomical and most 

 ^'unmathematical" forms. The radiologist on his part will find 

 regular visits to an experimental laboratory stimulating and 

 chastening experiences. A good deal might be done to relieve 

 the situation by a more systematic training of the hospital 

 physicist. Frequently even a change in mathematical approach 

 to a problem will make collaboration much easier. It will be 

 found, for example, in studying radiation distributions showing 

 the dose at various points in the tissues, that the medical radiolo- 

 gist will visualize results much more clearly if the physicist 

 avoids formal mathematical analysis and substitutes geometrical 

 methods. A formula is anathema, but the shape of an ''isodose 

 surface" is almost anatomy. The physicist is apt to think his 



