B. Gino Fallone

Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Oncology Dept

Contact Overview Courses Publications

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Oncology Dept

Email: bfallone@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 432-8750
Address: Cross Cancer Institute
11560 University Avenue

Edmonton AB

T6G 1Z2

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

medical physics image-guided RT linac-MR develop

About

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Fellow: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine

Diplomat: American Board of Medical Physics

Diplomat: American Board of Radiology

Professional Physicist: Canadian Association of Physicists

Fellow: American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Fellow: Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists

Knight, Order of Merit, Italy (Cavaliere, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana)

Research

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Integration of a Linac with an MRI System for Real-Time Image-Guided Radiotherapy.

Please see the Linac-MR.ca website.

Image-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy (IGAR)
The main goal of the research program entitled "Image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGAR)" in CBIAR, is to achieve the maximum curing potential by precisely delivering a radiation dose distribution that is "sculpted" to the anatomical and biological extent of the tumor while delivering minimal dose to healthy tissue to reduce side effects.

The IGAR program incorporates one of the world's first human Helical TomoTherapy System, a ultra-high human whole body (3 T) MR Imaging and Spectroscopy System, an animal 9.4T MR Imaging and Spectroscopy System, an image-fusion laboratory, and the computer laboratories for the Canadian Computational Cancer Center (C4). The MR systems provide the anatomical, functional, metabolic and biochemical information to identify diseases at an earlier stage, and monitor treatment response immediately after and at intervals after treatment. The resultant information is integrated with PET images within our image fusion laboratories to design advanced adaptive radiation therapy delivered by the experimental TomoTherapy system. The C4 facilities will evaluate the clinical outcome with respect to treatment by imaging follow-up and by correlating with gene profiling information provided of PolyomX. This evaluation will allow the quantification of fundamental cancer processes and its varying treatment, in an effort to develop novel treatment strategies.

We deliver the dose by a Helical TomoTherapy system, a revolutionary treatment device that was funded by the CFI, ASRA and the ACF (Total of about $5M. Conventional modern CT and MR (1.5 T) do not show the full extent of the tumor. To obtain the full biological extent of the tumor and the healthy tissues (functional, biochemical information in addition to the anatomical information), we have received funds from the CFI and ASRIP (about $10 M) to install a ultra-high field MR system. The system comprises a 3 T MRI and MRS system ($4 M) from Philips which is far superior in imaging capabilities to conventional 1.5 T systems. In addition, we were able to acquire a 9.4 T (super high field) animal MRI and MRS system to perform studies in MR molecular imaging. The latter system brings us to the limit of what futuristic MR imaging and spectroscopy can do for cancer detection, and cancer therapy from radiation and from other cancer treatment agents. The acquisition of the latter system has been made possible with the partial financial $660K commitment from the ACF.

The IGAR facilities are unique in the world, and allow the delivery of advanced adaptive radiation treatments, offer functional and metabolic information of cancer, and quantify cancer processes, and make the Cross Cancer Institute the most advanced center in the world for cancer molecular imaging and adaptive radiation therapy.

Digital Electroradiography
The investigation of a high resolution non-contact voltage sensor to obtain latent images from xeroradiographic plates composed of amorphous Selenium (a-Se), resulting in the development of a digital radiographic system for on-line portal imaging. We are presently investigating the performance of a novel portal imaging device composed of metal/a-Se coupled to amorphous Silicon active flat-panels (thin film transistors).

Digital Portal Imaging and Automatic Image Registration and Verification

Our studies in the digital contrast enhancement of portal localization radiographs have resulted in improved visualization of the treatment area and adjacent regions, thus facilitating the task of accurate localization. Automatic registration of portal to reference images have been performed with morphological processing and correlation techniques. We have also implemented techniques to create megavoltage digital reconstructed radiographs (DRRs) of 3-D CT data to produce CT simulation of patient treatment and subsequent automatic registration to portal images. We are presently investigating the automatic registration of portal to DRRs in three dimensions for on-line verification of radiation treatment.

Inverse Treatment Planning
State-of-the art conformal therapy is a technique that achieves increased survival rate by using intensity modulated beams to deliver dose distributions that tailor a high-dose region to the tumor volume while the dose to the healthy tissue as low as possible. Optimizing techniques have developed to design the modulated beams through a process of inverse treatment planning (ITP). We have develop a novel ITP technique and now plan to incorporate clinically relevant objectives and constraints, and to incorporate emerging radiobiological information to design plans that maximizes tumor control with minimum complications.

Conformal Therapy
We are pursuing Image-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy (IGAR) techniques that use advanced imaging modalities, conventional and ultra-high field MR, PET, CT, megavoltage CT, to deliver highly conformal therapy beams using a unique Helical TomoTherapy system within the Center for Biological Imaging and Adaptive Radiotherapy (CBIAR). Research in this avenue involves megavoltage CT, detector design and analysis, inverse planning, Monte Carlo simulation and dosimetry, radiobiological modeling, etc. Within the newly-created Canadian Computational Cancer Center, we provide through a computational and theoretical approach, the systematic simplification, quantification and visualization of cancer processes and conventional treatments into practical models that can be developed to significantly increase cure rates.

Courses

ONCOL 693 - Advanced Radiotherapeutic Physics

Guided reading course with preparation and delivery of teaching lectures in novel radiotherapeutic techniques, advanced radiation techniques and delivery in conjunction with ONCOL 691 and 692 presentations. Prerequisite: ONCOL 550, 552, 600, and consent of Instructor.

Winter Term 2026

Browse more courses taught by B. Gino Fallone

Featured Publications

Quantifying Intra- and Inter-Observer Variabilities in Manual Contours for Radiotherapy: Evaluation of an MR Tumor Autocontouring Algorithm for Liver, Prostate, and Lung Cancer Patients

Gawon Han, Arun Elangovan, Jordan Wong, Asmara Waheed, Keith Wachowicz, Nawaid Usmani, Zsolt Gabos, Jihyun Yun, B. Gino Fallone

Algorithms. 2025 May; 10.3390/a18050290

Patient-Specific Hyperparameter Optimization of a Deep Learning-Based Tumor Autocontouring Algorithm on 2D Liver, Prostate, and Lung Cine MR Images: A Pilot Study

Gawon Han, Keith Wachowicz, Nawaid Usmani, Don Yee, Jordan Wong, Arun Elangovan, Jihyun Yun, B. Gino Fallone

Algorithms. 2025 April; 10.3390/a18040233

Time Domain Principal Component Analysis for Rapid, Real-Time MRI Reconstruction from Undersampled Data

Proceed. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2022 May;

, Conventional versus hypo fractionated radiation for high risk prostate cancer patients (chirp): 24 months patient-reported outcomes of the randomized phase ii chirp trial

Yang F, Ghosh S, Yee D, Patel S, Pervez N, Parliament M, Usmani N, Danielson B, Amanie J, Pearcey R, Field C, Fallone G, Murtha A

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY BIOLOGY PHYSICS. 2022 January; 114 (1):99-107 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.04.045

MRI monitoring of transplanted neonatal porcine islets labeled with polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in a mouse model

Xenotransplantation. 2022 January; 10.1111/xen.12720

MRI monitoring of transplanted neonatal porcine islets labelled with polyvinylpyrrol coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in a mouse model,

K. Purich. H. Cai, Z. Xu, A,G, Tessier, A. Black, R. Hung, E. Brown, B. Xu, P. Wu, B. Zhang, D. Xin, B.G. Fallone, R. V. Rajotte, Y. Wu, G.R. Rayat

XENOTRANSPLANTATION. 2021 November; 29 (1):e12720 10.1111/xen.12720

Time domain principal component analysis for rapid, real-time 2D MRI reconstruction from undersampled data

Mark Wright, Bryson Dietz, Eugene Yip, Jihyun Yun, Zsolt Gabos, B. Gino Fallone, Keith Wachowicz

MEDICAL PHYSICS. 2021 November; 48 (11):4523-4532 10.1002/mp.15238

Clinical Outcomes of the CHIRP trial: A Phase II Prospective Randomized Trial of Conventionally Fractionated versus Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy in Patients with High-Risk Prostate Cancer

M H. Wang, L. J. Vos, D. Yee, Samir Patel, Nadeem Pervez, Matthew Parliament, Nawaid Usmani, Brita Danielson, John Amanie, Robert Pearcey, Sunita Ghosh, Colin Field, Gino Fallone and Albert D. Murtha

Practical Radiation Oncology. 2021 September; 11 (5):384-393 10.1016/j.prro.2021.02.011

Deep learning-based auto-contouring algorithm for tumour tracking using a Linac-MR,"

medical physics. 2021 August;

Findings of the AAPM Ad Hoc Committee on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Radiation Therapy: Unmet needs, opportunities, and recommendations

Kiaran P. McGee, Neelam Tyagi, John E. Bayouth, Minsong Cao, B. Gino Fallone, Carri K. Glide-Hurst, Frank L. Goerner, Olga L. Green, Taeho Kim, Eric S. Paulson, Nathan E. Yanasak, Edward F. Jackson, James H. Goodwin, Sonja Dieterich, David W. Jordan, Geoffrey D. Hugo, Matt A. Bernstein, James M. Balter, Kalpana M. Kanal, John D. Hazle, Norbert J. Pel

MEDICAL PHYSICS. 2021 August; 48 (8):4523-4531 10.1002/mp.14996