Ukraine Course on Image Guided Radiotherapy with Emphasis on Brachytherapy of Cervical Cancer

Opens: March 15th, 2026

Exclusively for Radiation Oncology Workers from Ukraine

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Historically,  Brachytherapy achieved 75-95% local control  in early and 30-65% in advanced cervical tumours. 

With MRI guided Brachytherapy, local control in EMBRACE 1 study was 98% for stage IB1 to 90% for stage IV. Morbidity was favourable.

CT guided Brachytherapy is a low-cost alternative to MRI. 

This course helps with implementation of CT & MRI guided Brachytherapy.


  • Target Audience

    Radiation oncologists • Medical physicists • Radiation therapy technologists

  • Format

    Online pre-recorded Lectures • Videos • Demonstrations • Links to Resources

  • Timing

    Kick off: 15. 03. 2026 • Stays open 6 months! • Learn when it suits you.

  • Course Directors

    Lesia Mytsiak • Nataliya Kovalchuk • Maryna Sokolovska • Yuliia Lozko • Zoia • Shepil • Christian Kirisits • Umesh Mahanthsetty • Primoz Petric

  • Course Administrators

    Iosif Strouthos • Patricia Frrokaj

Course curriculum draft

The curriculum is still being refined. This is not the final version

    1. ПОЧАТИ ТУТ / START HERE

    2. Огляд курсу. Примож Петрич / Course Overview. Primoz Petric

    3. Вступне слово від директора курсу. Наталія Ковальчук / Introduction by the course directors. Nataliya Kovalchuk

    4. Застереження, умови та конфлікти інтересів / Disclaimers, Conditions, and Conflicts of Interest

    5. Опитування перед курсом (займає приблизно 5 хвилин) / Pre-Course Survey (takes approximately 5 minutes)

    6. Інструкція до опитування перед курсом (Pre-course Quiz Instruction) / Pre-course Quiz INSTRUCTION

    1. Результати CT‑орієнтованої адаптивної брахітерапії (IGABT). Umesh Mahantshetty / of CT-based IGABT. Umesh Mahantshetty

    2. EMBRACE I: розширені результати спостереження. Primož Petrič / EMBRACE I: extended follow-up results. Primoz Petric

    3. EMBRACE II: результати. Richard Pötter / EMBRACE II results. Richard Pötter

    4. Прогностичні фактори локального контролю — EMBRACE I. Max Schmid / Prognostic factors for local control. - EMBRACE I. Max Schmid

    5. T-score та його прогностичне значення. Jacob Lindegaard / T-Score and its prognostic significance. Jacob Lindegaard

    6. Прогностичні фактори ускладнень — EMBRACE I. Alina Sturdza / Prognostic factors for morbidity - EMBRACE I. Alina Sturdza

    7. Триплет EMBRACE III: дослідження REWIND, PROMISE та IMPACT. Christian Kirisits / EMBRACE III triplet: REWIND, PROMISE, IMPACT studies. Christian Kirisits

    8. Ключова лекція: EMBRACE — минуле та майбутнє променевої терапії раку шийки матки. Richard Pötter / Keynote Lecture: EMBRACE-ing the Past and the Future in Cervical Cancer Radiotherapy. Richard Pötter

    1. COMING! Епідеміологія раку шийки матки в Україні та вірус папіломи людини — основна причина раку шийки матки. Veronika Patsko / Epidemiology of cervical cancer in Ukraine and Human papillomavirus - the main cause of cervical cancer. Veronika Patsko

    2. COMING! Анатомія жіночого таза, шийки матки та шляхів лімфатичного відтоку. Iryna Dyakiv / Anatomy of the female pelvis, cervix, and lymph node drainage pathways. Iryna Dyakiv

    3. COMING! Патологія раку шийки матки. Anna Kryzhanivska / Pathology of cervical cancer. Anna Kryzhanivska

    4. COMING! Інфраструктура радіаційного обладнання та методик в Україні. Serhii Brovchuk / Infrastructure of the radiation equipment and techniques in Ukraine. Serhii Brovchuk

    1. ВИБІР МЕТОДУ ВІЗУАЛІЗАЦІЇ на етапі діагностики / зовнішньої променевої терапії з точки зору лікаря-радіотерапевта. Primož Petrič / CHOICE OF IMAGING MODALITY at Diagnosis / EBRT from perspective of radiation oncologist. Primoz Petric

    2. Нормальні результати візуалізації на етапі діагностики/зовнішньої променевої терапії з точки зору лікаря-радіотерапевта. Primož Petrič / NORMAL IMAGING FINDINGS at Diagnosis/EBRT from perspective of radiation oncologist. Primoz Petric

    3. Результати візуалізації: ПЕРВИННА ПУХЛИНА на етапі діагностики/зовнішньої променевої терапії з точки зору лікаря-радіотерапевта. Primož Petrič / Imaging findings: PRIMARY TUMOUR at Dg/EBRT from perspective of radiation oncologist. Primoz Petric

    4. Результати візуалізації: ЛІМФАТИЧНІ МЕТАСТАЗИ на етапі діагностики/зовнішньої променевої терапії з точки зору лікаря-радіотерапевта. Primož Petrič / Imaging findings: NODAL METASTASES at Dg/EBRT from perspective of radiation oncologist. Primoz Petric

    5. Клінічне обстеження та схеми (малюнки). Umesh Mahantshetty / Clinical examination and drawings. Umesh Mahantshetty

    1. Лімфатичний відтік та вибір лімфатичних об’ємів. Lavanya Gurram / Lymphatic drainage and Selection of nodal volumes. Lavanya Gurram

    2. Контурювання EBRT, частина I: початкова первинна пухлина (GTV-T) та високий ризик цільового об’єму (CTV-T). Primož Petrič / EBRT Contouring part I: Initial primary tumour GTV-T & High risk CTV-T. Primoz Petric

    3. Контурювання EBRT, частина II: цільовий об’єм низького ризику (CTV-T) та внутрішньо-клітинний цільовий об’єм (ITV-T). Primož Petrič / EBRT Contouring part II: Low-risk CTV-T and ITV-T. Primoz Petric

    4. Контурювання EBRT, частина III: лімфатичні вузли GTV-N, CTV-N та ITV-N для метастатичних вузлів. Primož Petrič / EBRT Contouring part III: Nodal GTV-N, CTV-N, and ITV-N for metastatic nodes. Primoz Petric

    5. Контурювання при EBRT, частина IV: елективний вузловий CTV-E. Примож Петрич / Контурювання при EBRT, частина IV: елективний вузловийEBRT Contouring part IV: Elective nodal CTV-E. Primoz Petric / EBRT Contouring part IV: Elective nodal CTV-E. Primoz Petric

    6. Контурювання парааортальних лімфатичних вузлів. Lavanya Gurram & Umesh Mahantshetty / Contouring of paraaortic nodal areas. Lavanya G & Umesh M / Contouring of paraaortic nodal areas. Lavanya G & Umesh M

    1. Огляд хіміопроменевої терапії з паліативною метою (Пробачте, я уточню: ви мали на увазі curative intent – з лікувальною метою, а не паліативною?) / Overview of chemoradiation with curative intent

    2. Супутня хіміотерапія разом із променевою терапією. Primož Petrič / Concomitant chemotherapy with radiotherapy. Primoz Petric

    3. Супутня хіміотерапія з променевою терапією для початківців, не медичних працівників. Primož Petrič / Concomitant chemotherapy with radiotherapy for beginners, non-physicians. Primoz Petric

    4. Неоад’ювантна хіміотерапія з наступною хіміопроменевою терапією. Primož Petrič / Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy. Primoz Petric

    5. Критична думка дослідників EMBRACE щодо режиму INTERLACE. Primož Petrič / Critical opinion by EMBRACE Researchers on the INTERLACE Regimen. Primoz Petric

    6. Оцінка плану EBRT. Срі Лакшмі К.К. та Равітеджа М. / EBRT plan evaluation. Sree Laxmi KK & Raviteja M

Contents at a glance

  • Free
  • 134 lessons
  • 32.5 hours of video content

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Lesia Mytsak

Course Director

I am a radiation oncologist at Radiology department, Ivano-Frankivsk national medical university in Precarpathian clinical oncology center, Ukraine I am ESTRO and BrachyAcademy member. I have over 10 years experience in radiotherapy, mainly of gynecological, breast, and GI tumors, both in EBRT and brachytherapy. I completed BrachyAcademy courses on brachytherapy of the Head and Neck, cervix and breast cancer. Education lead for “Customized training program UA-AU”, speaker at national oncology conferences. Completed observerships at the Christie (UK) and the University of California Irvine Cancer Center (USA).

Nataliya Kovalchuck

Course Director

Dr. Nataliya Kovalchuk, PhD, Fellow of AAPM is a Clinical Professor at Stanford Radiation Oncology department and an Adjunct Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She completed her residency at Mayo Clinic and worked at Massachusetts Genaral Hospital/Boston Medical Center/Harvard Medical School. She is one of the international leaders in the clinical implementation of Biology-Guided Radiotherapy and auto-planning techniques for Total Body Irradiation, Total Marrow Lymphoid Irradiation, and Cranio-Spinal Irradiation, with more than 200 publications and presentations. She serves on multiple committees at AAPM, ASTRO, NRG, COG, and ABR. She is also a physics chair for four NRG and COG clinical trials, physics lead for the NRG Head and Neck committee and the VMAT TBI workgroup. In recognition of her educational efforts, she has been honored with five teaching awards from ARRO, Stanford, and Harvard. Since the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Nataliya directed her efforts to helping Ukraine as a co-founder and president of Help Ukraine Group. Her dedication was recognized with the Richard Hoppe Leadership Award and the Parliament of Ukraine Certificate of Merit for the Service to the People of Ukraine.

Yuliia Lozko

Course Director

Radiation oncologist at the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine, with international clinical experience at leading institutions including Stanford, Mayo Clinic, Harvard, and Northwestern Hospital. Specializes in the treatment of genitourinary, breast, and gastrointestinal cancers. Head of the Radiation Oncology Division at OncoHub, team member of Help Ukraine Group, and member of the Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA). Actively engaged in research and initiatives aimed at improving patient education and access to high-quality cancer care.

Serhii Brovchuck

Course Director

Serhii Brovchuk, PhD is a Medical physicist at LISOD Israeli oncology hospital and National Scientific Center of Surgery and Transplantation named after O.O. Shalimov to National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine; BSc in Physics and MSc in Solid State Physics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine; researcher in Solid State Physics and PhD at G.V. Kurdyumov institute for metal physics of National Academy for Science of Ukraine, Master of Advanced Studies in Medical Physics program (ICTP & University of Trieste) with the thesis on “Verification of the physics model of the treatment planning system Pinnacle3 through Monte Carlo simulations”. With 10 years of experience both in EBRT and Brachytherapy, international training in medical physics, excellent teacher and trainer for colleagues in Ukraine organizing and leading numerous workshops. Author of scientific brachytherapy publications.

Oleh Ovsiienko

Course Director

Oleh Ovsiienko, Ms. Head Medical Physicist, Radiotherapy Department, Kyiv City Clinical Oncology Center. More than 14 years experience in radiotherapy. 3D-conformal radiotherapy treatment planning, clinical dosimetry, Quality Assurance radiotherapy, HDR 3D brachytherapy treatment planning, IMRT, VMAT, SRS, SBRT treatment. Patient QA. 4 published articles.

Zoia Shepil

Course Director

Radiation Oncologist, RT Department of «National Scientific Center of Surgery and Transplantation named after O.O. Shalimov to National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine». Member Help Ukraine Group. Ukrainian representative in the IAEA Group «Development of HR Competencies in Ukraine in Radiation Oncology and Imaging». With over 20 years of professional experience in radiation oncology, specializes in brachytherapy, particularly in gynecologic cancers and interstitial brachytherapy for skin tumors; also, with broad expertise in external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) across all localizations. Author and presenter at national and international conferences; contributor to international scientific publications; lecturer for national courses and workshops aimed at improving radiotherapy practices in Ukraine.

Maryna Sokolovska

Course Director

Associate Professor, Dr. Maryna Sokolovska, MD, PhD, Head of the Radiation Oncology Center, National Cancer Institute of Ukraine, Kyiv. Radiation oncologist with over 20 years of clinical experience in EBRT, brachytherapy, and orthovoltage therapy. Eleven years of teaching as an Associate Professor in Radiation oncology at the Shupyk National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education. PhD in oncology, Master’s degree in Public Administration. Regular speaker at national and international oncology conferences. Member of ESTRO, ASTRO, ISRS, BrachyAcademy, and HUG-supported training programs. Active participant in international clinical trials (H&N, lung, and gynecologic cancers). Completed observerships at The Christie (UK) and Miami Cancer Institute (USA).

Christian Kirisits

BrachyTerra Program Director

I am lead Brachytherapy Physicist at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna. I (co-)authored >150 peer-reviewed articles and made numerous contributions to conference proceedings, as a book editor and as invited speaker at international conferences. I was chairman of the GEC ESTRO Committee. I was faculty member at the ESTRO Course on Gynaecological cancer and several other periodic and non-periodic teaching courses. I was Coordinator of the Committee for the ICRU 89 report and I am one of Coordinators of the EMBRACE I & II studies.

Umesh Mahantshetty

BrachyTerra Program Director

I am Director of Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Visakhapatnam. At Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, I led the GYN Radiation Oncology group. I have been the Secretary of Indian Brachytherapy Society & member of Executive Committees of Association of Radiation Oncologists and GYN Oncologists of India since many years. I delivered many lectures at various forums. I was faculty member at ESTRO School for GYN cancers, Advanced Technologies, IAEA training Activities and Director of AROI – ESTRO Courses in India. I have ~200 publications, book chapters and international guidelines for Gyn Cancer. I was consultant to the ICRU 89 Report. January 2021 I was labelled “world expert” by Expertscape for being in the top 0.1% scholars in the field of Uterine Neoplasms in the past decade.

Primoz Petric

Course Director & BrachyTerra Program Director

I founded BrachyTerra. I am Radiation Oncologist at Cantonal Hospital Luzern, Switzerland, and Assoc. Prof. at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. 2009-2022 I was teaching at the ESTRO course on gynaecological cancer. I teach at other events, including IAEA courses and several workshops. I am member of Gyn GEC ESTRO Working Group and EMBRACE study group, and PI of EMBRACE Rewind Study. I implemented Image Guided Adaptive Brachytherapy at IOL Slovenia, HMC Qatar, and USZ, Switzerland. I was consultant to the ICRU 89 Report, and authored many scientific works, book chapters, guidelines, and conference lectures.

Anna Kryzhanivska

Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Head of the oncology department at Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University(IFNMU), Ukraine, laureate of the State Prize in Science and Technology, Regional Oncogynecologist. She is the author and co-author of 112 scientific papers, including 24 articles in Scopus. She heads the scientific school of oncology named after Professor Golotyuk I.A. Under her leadership, 7 dissertations for the academic title of Doctor of Philosophy were defended. She is a member of the Specialized Academic Council for the defense of doctoral dissertations of the National Cancer Institute (Kyiv). She regularly organizes scientific and practical oncology conferences, speaks at international conferences. She is a member of the working group of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on the development of standards for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases. She leads a team of oncogynecologists at the Precarpathian Clinical Oncology Center, and together they received an accreditation certificate from the ESGO. With the department, practical training of students on certified laparoscopic simulators was organized. She heads 18 international clinical trials that take place at the Department of Oncology of the IFNMU. The staff of the department won participation in the international project Horizon.

Veronika Patsko

Head of the Department of Clinical Oncology No. 2, National Cancer Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine Regular participant of training conferences and internships. Member of international organizations: ESMO, USCO, USSO, ASCO, AACR, EORTC GI Group. Author and co-author of 16 publications. Organizer of the conference "GI tumors – is surgery enough" (Kyiv, Ukraine, 27-28 July 2023), conference "Team approach as a key for effective treatment of pancreatic cancer" (Ivano-Frankivsk, February 15, 2024), conference "Updates on colorectal cancer treatment" (Kyiv, Ukraine, June 27-28, 2024), editor-in-chief of the scientific program of the conference "Up to Date 4.0" (November 23-24, 2023), reviewer of publications in the journal "BMJ Clinical Cases". 2018-2022 – clinical partner in the VOGAS project (#824986), the HORIZON 2020 program for the introduction of new methods of gastric cancer screening. Sub-investigator in the international clinical trials of Phase II-III (KEYLYNK 012, KEYLYNK 013, KEYNOTE 355, KEYNOTE 598, KEYNOTE 671, KEYNOTE 811, KEYNOTE 859, KEYNOTE 826, KEYNOTE 756, KEYNOTE 937, MK-7684A-003, CT-P16_3.1, KEYNOTE 585, D419MC00004, D419CC00002, D5082C0003, R2810-ONC-1624, R2810-ONC-16113, CL3-95005-006, CL3-95005-007, etc.).

Iryna Diakiv

Iryna Dyakiv – candidate of medical sciences, gynecologist-oncologist, docent of the Department of Oncology of Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. She is the author and co-author of 52 scientific articles, a member of the editorial team at the journal “Art of Medicine”. She also regularly participates in scientific and practical conferences with international participation on oncology. Speeches at international scientific and practical conferences in Dublin (2024) and Rome (2025). Dyakiv Iryna is a member of the multidisciplinary commission of oncogynecologists at the Precarpathian Clinical Oncology Center. She has repeatedly conducted trainings on prevention and vaccination against the human papillomavirus. A full member of the European, world organization of oncogynecologists. Sub-investigator in international clinical studies.

Richard Pötter

Short Bio

Maximilian Paul Schmid

Radiation oncologist and head of brachytherapy at the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Medical University of Vienna, part of the coordinating team of the EMBRACE studies. PI of the EMBRACE III Promise Study.

Martina Frei

Martina Frei studied medicine at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and graduatet 2014. She completed her residency as an anaesthesiologist in various hospitals in Switzerland. During this time, she also gained experience in intensive care medicine, emergency medicine, general surgery and internal medicine. She has been working as an anaesthesiologist at the Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Inselspital Bern since April 2023. As part of her work, she performs anaesthesia during brachytherapy for patients with cervical cancer. She also works as an emergency physician for Rega (air ambulance).

Alina Sturdza

I trained in Radiation Oncologist at the University of Toronto, strongly influenced by my mentor - Prof Gillian Thomas. In 2008 I started a fellowship in gynaecological radiation oncology at the Medical University of Vienna. I am the PI of the RetroEMBRACE study, local PI for EMBRACE I/II and co-investigator in the development of new gynaecological brachytherapy applicators I participated in Portec 4a, MK-3475-A18 and in many institutional studies. I am a passionate teacher, especially on radiotherapy in cervical cancer. One of my other projects is the refreshment of brachytherapy training, a joint project with ESTRO/GEC ESTRO and the ABS. I was part of the team developing the ESGO/ESTRO/ESP guidelines for endometrial cancer and the DEGRO guidelines for cervical cancer.

Jacob Christian Lindegaard

Jacob Christian Lindegaard (1959), consultant, MD, DMSc, Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital (AUH), Denmark. Educated at Aarhus University. Preclinical research with professor Jens Overgaard. Past president of GEC-ESTRO. Since 2005 responsible for image guided adaptive brachytherapy at AUH.

Nicole Eder-Nesvacil

Nicole Eder-Nesvacil, DSc, Associate Professor at the Medical University of Vienna, Department of Radiation Oncology. Since 2016 member of the faculty at the ESTRO course on advance brachytherapy physics, since 2019 member of the faculty at the ESTRO course on gynaecological malignancies. Member of the Gyn GEC ESTRO Working Group, the EMBRACE Study Group and the EMBRACE study office. Her main research interest is image-guided adaptive brachytherapy with MRI, CT and ultrasound, and evidence-based decision support.

Johannes Dimopoulos

Short Bio

Rien Moerland

Rien Moerland graduated in Physics at the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands in 1986 and worked since then as Medical Physicist at the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands until 2024 when he retired. He completed his PhD on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Radiotherapy Treatment Planning in 1996 and became lead Brachytherapy Physicist. He was faculty member at the ESTRO teaching course on Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer. He (co-)authored about 100 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to the AAPM-ESTRO task groups on Robotic Brachytherapy and Needle Tracking.

Elena Riggenbach

Dr. Elena Riggenbach is a Consultant at the department of Radiation Oncology at the University Hospital Bern, Switzerland. Since 2021 she is in the executive committee of the Scientific Association of Swiss Radiation Oncology and an active member of ESTRO. She has set up and organized educational national contouring workshops and helped co-author several peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and the GEC-ESTRO handbook on gynecological brachytherapy. Her clinical practice and research focus is brachytherapy for gynecological and head and neck cancers, intraoperative radiotherapy and sarcoma.

Raviteja Miriyala

I am Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, at Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (a unit of Tata Memorial Centre), Visakhapatnam, India. After completing my residency in Radiation Oncology from PGIMER, Chandigarh, India and a short-term rotation in California Protons Cancer Therapy Centre (San Diego, CA), I joined as an Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology at PGIMER, Chandigarh in 2018. Subsequently, I moved on to the newly established Radiation Oncology facility at Tata Memorial Centre in Visakhapatnam, in 2019. I handle a disease-specific practice with Gynaecological Cancers as my primary area of interest, in addition to Thoracic and Gastrointestinal malignancies. I am particularly interested in Gynaecological Brachytherapy, with special focus on MR and CT/TRUS based IGABT. I am actively involved in protocol development for the upcoming international multicentre CT-EMBRACE registration study. I enjoy teaching as much as I enjoy practising Radiation Oncology. I have been associated with AROI-ESTRO Gyn teaching course and AFRONET as a guest faculty, and with Stanford-NCG India EqUIP (Quality Improvement Initiative) as a mentor for the regional QI Hub.

Sree Lakshmi KK

K K Sreelakshmi is a Medical Physicist with five years of clinical experience, currently working at the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Visakhapatnam. She completed her Masters in Physics from the University of Delhi and received her training in Radiological Physics from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. She is particularly interested in Brachytherapy and is involved in its routine work in the department. In addition, she has a keen interest in dosimetry and enjoys teaching physics concepts to students and is passionate about physics pedagogy.