The Academy offers a 2-day extensive training course, run by a multidisciplinary faculty, that provides participants with clinical education and practice, unique first-hand and peer-led training in the proper selection of patients, clinical trial results, information on the safe use of INTRABEAM and precise details on the TARGIT technique. By offering participants a unique first-hand education and intensive hands-on training, the TARGIT Academy accelerates the learning curve to the optimum level within the shortest possible time.

There is also emphasis on the radiobiology and radiation safety aspects of this procedure to ensure that correct guidelines are followed. As the indications for the use of TARGIT are expanding to encompass other tumour sites, these new developments are also covered.

There is also group discussion, troubleshooting and presentations of interesting cases in a mock multidisciplinary meeting setting.

Educational Material. The educational material comprises a full slide set of the training programme along with video recordings of the procedure performed by various surgeons in different settings. A comprehensive reference list with copies of the abstracts from all related publications is also provided.

Development of the TARGIT Training Simulator. As we believe that surgeons and the interdisciplinary team should be equipped with all the appropriate practical skills required to perform the procedure, we have designed and built a model that can be used for training all aspects of this technology.

The training simulator is realistic anatomically and is constructed from hot-melt thermoplastic polymer material with similar physical characteristics and radiation attenuation qualities to the breast. It allows accurate demonstration of the technical aspects of TARGIT. Simulated tumours of different sizes and locations are implanted within the model to mirror a real-life experience as closely as possible.