International audienceIn light ion beam therapy, positron (β+) emitters are produced by the tissue nuclei through nuclear interactions with the beam ions. They can be used for the verification of the delivered dose using positron emission tomography by comparing the spatial distribution of the β+ emitters activity to a computer simulation taking into account the patient morphology and the treatment plan. However, the accuracy of the simulation greatly depends on the method used to generate the nuclear interactions producing these emitters. In the case of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, the nuclear interaction models still lack the required accuracy due to insufficient experimental cross section data. This is particularly true for carbon therapy where literature data on fragmentation cross sections of a carbon beam with targets of medical interest are very scarce. Therefore, we performed at GANIL in July 2016 measurements on β+ emitter production cross sections with a carbon beam at 25, 50, and 95 MeV/nucleon on thin targets (C, N, O, and PMMA). We extracted the production cross section of C10,11, N13, and O14,15 that are essential to constrain or develop MC nuclear fragmentation models
et al.. Differential cross section measurements for hadron therapy: 50 MeV/nucleon 12 C reactions on H, C, O, Al, and nat Ti targets. Phys.Rev.C, 2017, 95 (4), pp.During a carbon therapy treatment, the beam undergoes inelastic nuclear reactions leading to the production of secondary fragments. These nuclear interactions tend to delocate a part of the dose into healthy tissues and create a mixed radiation field. In order to accurately estimate the dose deposited into the tissues, the production rate of these fragments all along the beam path have to be taken into account. But the double differential carbon fragmentation cross sections are not well known in the energy range needed for a treatment (up to 400 MeV/nucleon). Therefore, a series of experiments aiming to measure the double differential fragmentation cross sections of carbon on thin targets of medical interest has been started by our collaboration. In March 2015 we performed an experiment to study the fragmentation of a 50 MeV/nucleon 12 C beam on thin targets at GANIL. During this experiment, energy and angular cross-section distributions on H, C, O, Al, and nat Ti have been measured. The experimental set-up will be detailed as well as the systematic error study and all the experimental results will be presented.
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