Associate Professor Emeritus, Division of Medical Physics, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta

Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Physics,

Senior Medical Physicist, Dept. of Medical Physics, CCI
Retired 2022.

BSc Physics: Calgary -1978
MSc Physics: Alberta -1986
PhD Physics: Alberta -1989

Member: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine

Research Interests

Multi-modality Image registration and fusion, motion induced image artifacts, intensity modulated radiotherapy, conformal radiotherapy, dosimetry, radiobiological dose response modeling, inverse treatment planning and plan optimization.

Significant advances in imaging and computerized treatment delivery technology have opened up new avenues for the realization of highly conformal dose distributions for cancer treatment. These include the combining of imaging modalities such as PET, MRI, fMRI and CT to produce more accurate treatment volumes and the emerging technique of intensity modulated radiotherapy using dynamic beam delivery techniques with both conventional linear accelerators as well as evolutionary new treatment schemes such as helical tomotherapy. The overriding goal is to permit dose escalation to highly conformal treatment volumes which will maximize local control while at the same time sparing surrounding healthy tissue.

Combining the anatomical and functional information provided by different imaging modalities promises to greatly enhance tumor volume definition allowing for greater accuracy in targeting diseased tissue for treatment. Achieving the degree of data integration required calls for significant efforts both theoretical and practical. This is especially so when nonlinear deformable mapping between divergent image spaces is contemplated.

The complex dose distributions envisioned by both conformal and intensity modulated radiotherapy require advanced methods both for future research and the verification of clinical beam delivery. The temporally modulated nature of some of these fields pose dosimetric difficulties not encountered with time independent fields. Appropriate dosimetry techniques are under investigation.

The objective of radiotherapy is tumor eradication by delivering a lethal dose of radiation to the effected volume while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. The ultimate success of radiation treatment is dictated by the radiobiological response of the tissues comprising both the target volume and surrounding healthy regions. Theoretical modeling attempts to predict the radiation response of these tissues based on relevant parameters including the distribution of physical dose, treatment modality, cell kinetics and organ structure.

Selected Publications

D. Robinson, D. Liu, S. Steciw, C. Field, H. Daly, S. Kumar, G. Fallone, M. Parliament, J. Amanie,
"Prospective Study to Evaluate the Accuracy and Inter-User Variability of the Clarity 3-Dimensional Ultrasound System for Verification during External Beam Radiation Therapy for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer"
Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. 13(4), 100-112 (2012).

A Teymurazyan, T Riauka, H-S Jans, D Robinson,
"Single Seed Region Growing Algorithm in Dynamic PET Imaging (SSRG/4D-PET) for Tumor Volume Delineation in Radiotherapy Treatment Planning: Theory and Simulation",
Journal of Digital Imaging, 59(5): 2020-32, 2012

A Teymurazyan, RS Sloboda, T Riauka, H-S Jans, D Robinson,
"Properties of Noise in Positron Emission Tomography Images Reconstructed with Filtered-Backprojection and Row-Action Maximum Likelihood Algorithm",
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Published online ahead of print, August 1, 2012

D .Yee, R. Pearcey, G. Dundas, J. Hanson, M. Mackenzie, D. Robinson, C. Field, L.Underwood, R. Urtasun, N. Pervez, B.G. Fallone,
"Dosimetric comparison of tomotehrapy versus 4-4 field pelvic box altered fractionation radiotherapy treatment plans for invasive squamous cell carcinoma,"
Cancer Therapy, 6, pp. 553-562 (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).

L Drever, W Roa, A McEwan, and D Robinson,
"Iterative Threshold Segmentation for PET Target Volume Delineation."
Medical Physics, April 2007, Volume 34, Issue 4, pp. 1253-1265.

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

B Yaremko, T 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. Communications 26(5), pp. 433-40, 2005.

I Gagne, D Robinson, R Halperin and W Roa,
"The Use of Phase Sequence Image Sets to Reconstruct the Total Volume Occupied by A Mobile Lung Tumor."
Medical Physics Vol. 32, No. 7 pp. 2211-2221, 2005.

D Robinson, I M Gagne, T Riauka, J Duke and W Roa,
"Metallic Copper as a Fiducial Marker for both CT and PET."
Med. Phys. 31(9), pp. 2520-2526, 2004.

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.

C Holloway, D Robinson, B Murray, J Amanie, C Butts, M Smylie, K Chu, A J McEwan, R Halperin and W Roa,
"Results of a Phase I Study To Dose Escalate Using Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy Guided by Combined PET/CT Imaging and Induction Chemotherapy for Patients with Stage I-IIIB Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer."
Radiotherapy and Oncology Vol. 73, No. 3; 285-287, 2004.

W Roa, J Liam, D Robinson, L Underwood and B Murray,
"A Decade of Change in the Practice of Radiation Therapy."
Current Oncology 11(1), pp. 34-38, 2004.

I Gagne and D Robinson,
"The Impact of Tumor Motion upon CT Image Integrity and Target Delineation."
Medical Physics 31(1), pp. 3378-3392, 2004.

J Amanie, D Robinson, B Murray, C Field, P Stavrev, R Hennig and W Roa,
"Comparison of Dose Escalated and Intensity Modulated Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy Plans in Patients with localised Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer."
Current Oncology 11(3), pp. 93-97, 2004.

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.

N Jha, H Seikaly, T McGraw, J Hanson, D Robinson, H Hoffman, D Stuckless, P Barnaby and L Coulter,
"Prevention of Radiation Induced Xerostomia by Surgical Transfer of the Submandibular Salivary Gland into the Submental Space."
Radiotherapy and Oncology 66, pp. 283-289, 2003.

L J Underwood, B R Murray, D M Robinson, G C Field and W H Roa,
"An Evaluation of Forward and Inverse Radiotherapy Planning Using Helax-TMS for Lung Cancer Patients Treated with RTOG 93-11 Dose-Escalation Protocol."
Medical Dosimetry 28(3), pp. 167-170, 2003.

M A MacKenzie and D M Robinson,
"Intensity Modulated Arc Deliveries Approximated by a large Number of Fixed Gantry Position Sliding Window Dynamic Multileaf Collimator Fields."
Medical Physics 29(10), pp. 2359-2365, 2002.

M A Mackenzie, M Lachaine, B Murray, B G Fallone, D Robinson and G C Field,
"Dosimetric verification of inverse planned step and shoot multileaf collimator fields from a commercial treatment planning system."
Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics 3(2), pp. 97-109, 2002.

S Rathee, B G Fallone and D M Robinson,
"Modulation Transfer Function of Digitally Reconstructed Radiographs for Spiral Computed Tomography."
Medical Physics 29(1), pp. 86-89, 2002.

E A Barnes, B R Murray and D M Robinson, L J Underwood, J Hanson, W Roa,
"Dosimetric Evaluation of Lung Tumor Immobilization Using Breath Hold at Deep Inspiration."
International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 50(4), pp. 1091-1098, 2001.

D M Robinson,
"A Structure Map as a Visualization Aid in Three Dimensional Treatment Planning."
Medical Dosimetry 25(4), pp. 249-253, 2000.

D M Robinson, J W Scrimger, G C Field and B G Fallone,
"Shielding Considerations for Tomotherapy."
Medical Physics 27(10), pp. 2380-2384, 2000.