The ratio of cross sections for inelastic muon scattering on xenon and deuterium nuclei was measured at very low Bjorken x (0.00002 < XBJ < 0.25). The data were taken at Fermilab experiment E665 with a 490 GeV/c muon beam incident on liquid deuterium and gaseous xenon targets. Two largely independent analysis techniques gave statistically consistent results. The xenon-to-deuterium per-nucleon cross-section ratio is constant at approximately 0.7 for XBJ below 0.003.
Protons have long been recognized as low LET radiation in radiotherapy. However, a detailed account of LET (linear energy transfer) and RBE (relative biological effectiveness) changes with incident beam energy and depth in tissue is still unresolved. This issue is particularly important for treatment planning, where the physical dose prescription is calculated from a RBE using cobalt as the reference radiation. Any significant RBE changes with energy or depth will be important to incorporate in treatment planning. In this paper we present microdosimetry spectra for the proton beam at various energies and depths and compare the results to cell survival studies performed at Loma Linda. An empirically determined biological weighting function that depends on lineal energy is used to correlate the microdosimetry spectra with cell survival data. We conclude that the variations in measured RBE with beam energy and depth are small until the distal edge of the beam is reached. On the distal edge, protons achieve stopping powers as high as 100 keV/micron, which is reflected in the lineal energy spectra taken there. Lineal energy spectra 5 cm beyond the distal edge of the Bragg peak also show a high LET component but at a dose rate 600 times smaller than observed inside the proton field.
Proton beams offer several advantages over conventional radiation techniques for treating cancer and other diseases. These advantages might be negated if the leakage and scatter radiation from the beamline and patient are too large. Although the leakage and scatter radiation for the double scattering proton beamlines at the Loma Linda University Proton Treatment Facility were measured during the acceptance testing that occurred in the early 1990s, recent discussions in the radiotherapy community have prompted a reinvestigation of this contribution to the dose equivalent a patient receives. The dose and dose equivalent delivered to a large phantom patient outside a primary proton field were determined using five methods: simulations using Monte Carlo calculations, measurements with silver halide film, measurements with ionization chambers, measurements with rem meters, and measurements with CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors. The Monte Carlo dose distribution was calculated in a coronal plane through the simulated patient that coincided with the central axis of the beam. Measurements with the ionization chambers, rem meters, and plastic nuclear track detectors were made at multiple locations within the same coronal plane. Measurements with the film were done in a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the beam and coincident with the surface of the phantom patient. In general, agreement between the five methods was good, but there were some differences. Measurements and simulations also tended to be in agreement with the original acceptance testing measurements and results from similar facilities published in the literature. Simulations illustrated that most of the neutrons entering the patient are produced in the final patient-specific aperture and precollimator just upstream of the aperture, not in the scattering system. These new results confirm that the dose equivalents received by patients outside the primary proton field from primary particles that leak through the nozzle are below the accepted standards for x-ray and electron beams. The total dose equivalent outside of the field is similar to that received by patients undergoing treatments with intensity modulated x-ray therapy. At the center of a patient for a whole course of treatment, the dose equivalent is comparable to that delivered by a single whole-body XCT scan.
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