Optimal Configuration of Proton-Therapy Accelerators for Relative-Stopping-Power Resolution in Proton Computed Tomography

Allinson, Nigel, Herrod, Alexander, Winter, Alasdair , Psoroulas, Serena, Price, Tony, Owen, Hywel, Appleby, Robert and Esposito, Michela (2022) Optimal Configuration of Proton-Therapy Accelerators for Relative-Stopping-Power Resolution in Proton Computed Tomography. Physical Review Applied, 18 (1). 014020. ISSN 2331-7019

Full content URL: http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.18.014020

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Item Type:Article
Item Status:Live Archive

Abstract

The determination of relative stopping power (RSP) via proton computed tomography (pCT) of a patient is dependent in part on the knowledge of the incoming proton kinetic energies; the uncertainty in these energies is in turn determined by the proton source—typically a cyclotron. Here, we show that reducing the incident proton beam energy spread may significantly improve RSP determination in pCT. We demonstrate that the reduction of beam energy spread from the typical 1.0% (at 70 MeV) down to 0.2% can be achieved at the proton currents needed for imaging at the Paul Scherrer Institut 250-MeV cyclotron. Through a simulated pCT imaging system, we find that this effect results in RSP resolutions as low as 0.2% for materials such as cortical bone, up to 1% for lung tissue. Several materials offer further improvement when the beam (residual) energy is also chosen such that the detection mechanisms used provide the optimal RSP resolution.

Keywords:proton beam therapy
Subjects:F Physical Sciences > F350 Medical Physics
Divisions:College of Science
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ID Code:52286
Deposited On:20 Dec 2022 11:23

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