Academic Rank

Professor

Professional Qualifications

MD, Universite Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France
FRCPC, Radiation Oncology
MSc, Nuclear Physics, Universite de Strasbourg, France
PhD, Nuclear Physics, Universite de Strasbourg, France

Appointments

Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto
Cross-appointment, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
Cross-appointment, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto
Staff Radiation Oncologist, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre

Academic & Clinical Interests

• Breast cancers, Breast IMRT, Breast brachytherapy
• Medical physics, Monte Carlo simulation, Gold Nanoparticles

Current Research Projects

Clinical research, focusing on the improvement of Breast cancer radiotherapy outcomes.

• A Phase III clinical trial comparing breast IMRT to conventional wedged irradiation, testing the impact of irradiation homogeneity improvement on the acute and long term toxicity rate. Several trials of Breast Permanent Seed Implant (BPSI) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of radioactive seed implant for adjuvant breast radiotherapy. The procedure is performed in a single one hour procedure under local anesthesia.

Physics research, focusing on the physical and physico-chemical interactions of radiation with biological material using Monte Carlo simulation.

• Evaluation of an Intermediate Photon Energy Tomotherapy unit (IPET), a unit using lower photon energy that has a very sharp penumbra (few hundred of micrometres) and of targeted gold nanoparticles radiosensitization for brachytherapy.

Selected Publications

See current publications list at PubMed.

Whelan TJ, Pignol JP, Levine MN, Julian J, MacKenzie R, Parpia S, Shelley W, Grimard L, Bowen J, Lukka H, Perera F, Fyles A, Schneider K, Gulavita S, Freeman C. Long-Term Results of Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Early Breast Cancer. N Engl J Med, 362;513-520, 2010

Pignol JP, Rakovitch E, Keller B, Sankreacha R, Chartier C. Tolerance and acceptance results of a palladium-103 permanent breast seed implant Phase I/II study. Int. J. Rad. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 73:1482–1488, 2009

Pignol JP, Olivoto I, Rakovitch E, Ackerman I, Sixel K, Beckham W, Vu T, Paszat L. A Phase III multicentre clinical trial of Breast Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) to reduce skin radiation side effects. Journal of Clinical Oncology 26:2085-2092, 2008

Cai Z, Pignol JP, Chan C, Reilly RM. Cellular Dosimetry of 111In using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) Computer Code: Comparison with the Analytical Methods and Correlation with In Vitro Cytotoxicity. J Nucl Med, 51:462-70, 2010

Pignol JP, Keller B. Electron and photon spread contributions to the radiological penumbra for small monoenergetic x-ray beam (≤ 2 MeV). J. Appl. Phys. 105:102011, 2009.