The potential of mixed carbon-helium beams for online treatment verification: a simulation and treatment planning study

Phys Med Biol. 2024 May 2. doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ad46db. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE: Recently, a new and promising approach for range verification was proposed. This method requires the use of two different ion species. Due to their equal magnetic rigidity, fully ionized carbon and helium ions can be simultaneously accelerated in accelerators like synchrotrons. At sufficiently high treatment energies, helium ions can exit the patient distally, reaching approximately three times the range
of carbon ions at an equal energy per nucleon. Therefore, the proposal involves adding a small helium fluence to the carbon ion beam and utilizing helium as an online range probe during radiation therapy. This work aims to develop a software framework for treatment planning and motion verification in range-guided radiation therapy using mixed carbon-helium beams.APPROACH: The developed framework is
based on the open-source treatment planning toolkit matRad. Dose distributions and helium radiographs were simulated using the open-source Monte Carlo package TOPAS. Beam delivery system parameters were obtained from the Heidelberg Ion Therapy Center, and imaging detectors along with reconstruction were facilitated by ProtonVDA. Methods for reconstructing the most likely patient positioning error scenarios and the motion phase of 4DCT are presented for prostate and lung cancer sites.MAIN RESULTS: The developed framework provides the capability to calculate and optimize...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Source Type: research