A novel range telescope concept for proton CT

Granado-González, Marc; Jesús-Valls, C.; Lux, T.; Price, Tony; Sánchez, F.

doi:10.1088/1361-6560/ac4b39

Cited by 6 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…To construct a full system it will also be necessary to produce a system for measuring the residual proton energy in such an environment. Many solutions have been proposed based on range telescopes, calorimeters and time of flight measurements [9,11,17,18], however they typically are limited by at least one of cost, size or speed. OPTIma will be pursuing a compact segmented calorimeter approach based on scintillating bars, however the optimal solution for this problem is still an open challenge for the field.…”

Section: Outlook and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In future, each track would then be associated to a hit within a calorimeter in order to determine the residual energy of each proton, however the calorimeter is not currently included within the Geant4 model. For now, the true energy of each proton is simply recorded then smeared according to the expected single proton performance of the ASTRA calorimeter [11] before associating it with each track. Path dependent corrections are then applied to the nominal beam energy and the recorded residual energy to account for energy losses within the detector and air so that an accurate estimate of the energy at the point of entry and exit to the phantom can be determined.…”

Section: Jinst 18 P04026mentioning

confidence: 99%

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OPTIma: a tracking solution for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

et al. 2023

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Currently there is a large discrepancy between the currents that are used for treatments in proton beam therapy facilities and the ultra low beam currents required for many proton CT imaging systems. Here we provide details of the OPTIma silicon strip based tracking system, which has been designed for performing proton CT imaging in conditions closer to the high proton flux environments of modern spot scanning treatment facilities. Details on the physical design, sensor testing, modelling, and track reconstruction are provided along with Monte-Carlo simulation studies of the expected performance for proton beam currents of up to 50 pA at the nozzle when using a σ = ∼10 mm spot scanning cyclotron system. Using a detailed simulation of the proposed OPTIma system, a discrepancy of less than 1% on the Relative Stopping Power is found for various tissues when embedded within a 150 mm diameter Perspex sphere. It is found that by accepting up to 7 protons per bunch it is possible to operate at cyclotron beam currents up to 5 times higher than would be possible with a single proton based readout, significantly reducing the total beam time required to produce an image, while also reducing the discrepancy between the beam currents required for treatment and those used for proton CT.

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Section: Outlook and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Jinst 18 P04026mentioning

confidence: 99%

OPTIma: a tracking solution for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

et al. 2023

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“…In the first, we parameterize the fractional energy resolution (in percent) of the calorimeter device detailed in Ref. [14] by…”

Section: Energy Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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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.

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“…Recently, alternative approaches that aim to increase the range of beam conditions that can be used for pCT have also been developed e.g by using highly segmented scintillators or pixelated detectors to resolve multiple protons per bunch (Baruffaldi et al 2018, Alme et al 2020, Granado-González et al 2022. Such approaches are promising but add significant complexity to the overall system due to a large increase in the number of detector elements and readout channels that are required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

OPTIma: simplifying calorimetry for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

Winter,

Vorselaars,

Esposito

et al. 2024

Phys. Med. Biol.

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Objective: Proton computed tomography (pCT) offers a potential route to reducing range uncertainties for proton therapy treatment planning, however the current trend towards high current spot scanning treatment systems leads to high proton fluxes which are challenging for existing systems. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to energy reconstruction, referred to as “de-averaging”, which allows individual proton energies to be recovered using only a measurement of their integrated energy without the need for spatial information from the calorimeter. Approach: The method is evaluated in the context of the OPTIma (Optimising Proton Therapy through Imaging) system which uses a simple, relatively inexpensive, scintillator based calorimeter that reports only the integrated energy deposited by all protons within a cyclotron period, alongside a silicon strip based tracking system capable of reconstructing individual protons in a high flux environment. GEANT4 simulations have been performed to examine the performance of such a system at a modern commercial cyclotron facility using a σ ≈ 10mm beam for currents in the range 10–50 pA at the nozzle. Main results: Apart from in low-density lung tissue, a discrepancy of less than 1% on the Relative Stopping Power is found for all other considered tissues when embedded within a 150 mm spherical Perspex phantom in the 10–30 pA current range, and for some tissues even up to 50 pA. Significance: By removing the need for the calorimeter system to provide spatial information, it is hoped that the de-averaging approach can facilitate clinically relevant, cost effective and less complex calorimeter systems for performing high current pCTs.

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A novel range telescope concept for proton CT

Cited by 6 publications

References 29 publications

OPTIma: a tracking solution for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

OPTIma: a tracking solution for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

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

OPTIma: simplifying calorimetry for proton computed tomography in high proton flux environments

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