INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR
PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
IN MEDICINE
Incorporating the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering and
the International Organization for Medical Physics
Affiliated with the International Council for Science (ICSU)
Report of the Health Technology Task Group (HTTG)
By Cari Borrás, D.Sc.
HTTG Co-Chair for Medical Physics
to the IUPESM Administrative Council and General Assembly
at the World Congress 2012
Beijing, China
INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR
PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
IN MEDICINE
Incorporating the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering and
the International Organization for Medical Physics
Affiliated with the International Council for Science (ICSU)
Introduction
In May 2010, I became Co-Chair of the Health Technology Task Group (HTTG) of the IUPESM. I
had been nominated by Barry Allen, who up to now had served as HTTG Chair, and was voted in
by the IUPESM Council. Shortly thereafter, the new Steering Group members composed by
IOMP and the IFMBE representatives were also approved. The Council voted that Joachim
Nagel be the HTTG Chair and I the Co-Chair. Dr. Nagel then, nominated Andrei Issakov as
Secretary General of the HTTG and his proposal was approved by Council as well. The Terms of
Reference of the Task Group and some relevant information which occurred in 2009 before I
was HTTG Co-Chair are documented in Joachim Nagel’s HTTG Report and thus, will not be
mentioned here.
Summary of HTTG Medical Physics Activities 2010-2012

Identification of individuals interested in participating in HTTG activities grouped by
interests. The list includes the names of both physicists and engineers who have pledged
their support to the HTTG and their potential level of involvement.

Speaker at the WHO First Global Forum on Medical Devices, Bangkok, Thailand, 2010,
invited, with WHO financial support, to develop recommendations as HTTG Co-Chair.
(See http://www.who.int/medical_devices/gfmd/en/index11.html ).

Becoming Associate Editor for the IUPESM journal Health and Technology; reviewing
manuscripts and soliciting papers.

Participation in a research project currently funded by the Gates foundation to come up
with screening technology for tuberculosis using low cost digital x-rays. The principal
investigator is Karim S. Karim PhD PEng, Associate Director, Center for Bioengineering
and Biotechnology and Associate Professor, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada.(See video TB_View 1000: Low cost digital X-ray for tuberculosis screening at
http://www.grandchallenges.ca/grand-challenges/gc1stars/canadasrisingstars/round2grantees/ ). Since the digital detector only costs $1000,
should the system work, the impact on health care would be high. The challenge is to
distill the requirements on the imaging system that TB lung screening would impose. C.
Borrás is collaborating with K. Karim advising on phantoms, dose measurements,
imaging protocols, and has been invited to the University of Waterloo to test the
imaging system, which is now being assembled.

Organization of the Second HTTG Medical Physics Workshop in Porto Alegre, Brazil, just
before the 18th International Conference on Medical Physics. The workshop, “Defining
the medical imaging requirements for a health station”, addressed how imaging could
IUPESM Health Technology Task Group, Borrás Report 21 May 2012
Page 3
facilitate the diagnosis for the most common health conditions presented at a rural
health station. The participants developed consensus recommendations on imaging
technologies, equipment, staff, telemedicine options, quality control, radiation
protection and the need for coordination among the different health levels within the
health system.

Identifying and contacting authors for a publication based on the Porto Alegre
Workshop, starting with the original Workshop presenters. It had been considered to
publish the Proceedings of the Workshop, but being the contents so important for
developing countries, it was decided instead to prepare a new publication,
complementing the subjects and seeking additional contributors. This phase of the
publication is now completed, and the technical editing work has started. Potential
publishers and associated costs are currently being explored at WHO and Springer
Verlag.

During the WC2012, on May 30, 2012, the third HTTG Workshop will take place; the
subject being Telemedicine for Developing Countries. It is expected that, like in past
workshops, recommendations will be drafted and published.
Recommendations 2012 – 2015
The HTTG performs an important role in the developing world and its work should continue. A
critical role for a better performance in the future is to nominate a Secretary General, who,
among his duties, will make seeking external funding a priority. The HTTG can no longer count
on WHO’s financial support; the global financial crisis has left the organization without private
donations and forced it to change priorities.
For the next three year term, i.e. 2012 – 2015, an HHTG work plan has to be set. Some medical
physics activities to be included in the work plan follow:

Continue organizing HHTG workshops at various international, regional and national
conferences.

Preparation of publications and guidelines on various aspects of health technologies,
including Defining the medical imaging requirements for a rural health station, based on
the Porto Alegre HTTG Workshop, which has already been drafted and is in the process
of being technically edited by C. Borrás. The Table of Contents is attached.

Development of projects to be funded by foundations and governments active in the
field of health technologies.

Create a database of bibliographic resources for medical physicists and biomedical
engineers for inclusion in the IUPESM website.

Continue the joint project with the University of Waterloo, including the possibility to tie
in lung TB CAD software so as to make a TB Screening system that is really scalable and
autonomous.
IUPESM Health Technology Task Group, Borrás Report 21 May 2012
Page 4

Explore a low cost option for doing QA for CT in developing countries, suggested by
Steve Dyer, MHS, General Manager - IrisQA, LLC, a commercial corporation dedicated to
develop software for testing medical imaging equipment. The idea is to provide remote
support to facilities without on-site dedicated CT QA staff. IrisQA would be willing to
subsidize a pilot project in 2012 to assess the pros and cons of electronic QA programs,
preferably in a Latin American country –both Brazil and Colombia are being considered–
pending on a written project proposal, which C. Borrás agreed to prepare.

Draft “Decommissioning medical devices” (includes unsafe disposal of mercury, syringes
a and radioactive sources) for publication and funding by WHO.
When the work plan is completed, the activities requiring financial support should be budgeted
and submitted to the IUPESM Council for approval.
Respectfully submitted,
Cari Borrás, D.Sc., FACR, FAAPM
HTTG Co-Chair
May 21, 2012
IUPESM Health Technology Task Group, Borrás Report 21 May 2012
Page 5
Attachment
Defining the medical imaging requirements for a rural health center
Table of Contents
Characteristics of a rural health center – Marlen Perez, Centro de Estudios de la Electrónica y
las Tecnologías de la Información, Universidad Central de las Villas, Villa Clara, Cuba
Practical case: Review of imaging and diagnostic equipment needs in Vanuatu– Barry Allen,
Centre for Experimental Radiation Oncology, St George Cancer Care Centre & Clinical School
UNSW, Kogarah NSW, Australia
Medical imaging needs in a rural health center from a clinical point of view – Félix Sansó
Soberat, Universidad de Ciencias Médicas, Havana, Cuba
Medical imaging equipment characteristics at the health station level: Overview – William
Hendee, Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Biophysics, Institute for Health & Society, Medical
College of Wisconsin, USA
Technical specifications: X-ray and ultrasound units – Kwan-Hoong Ng, Department of
Biomedical Imaging and Medical Physics Unit, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Physical infrastructure and procurement issues – Cari Borrás, Co-Chair HTTG, Washington DC,
USA
Staff: Basic training and continuing education – Slavik Tabakov, Chair IUPESM Education and
Training Committee, UK
Teleradiology and networking – Trevor Cradduck, COACH – Canada’s Health Informatics
Association, Nanoose Bay, British Columbia, Canada
Quality control, radiation protection and maintenance programs – Cari Borrás, Co-Chair HTTG,
Washington DC, USA
Patient referral to secondary and tertiary health care levels – Pat Cadman, Medical Physics,
Saskatoon Cancer Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada