An experimental study of focused very high energy electron beams for radiotherapy

Kokurewicz, Karolina; Brunetti, E.; Curcio, A.; Gamba, Davide; Garolfi, Luca; Gilardi, Antonio; Senes, Eugenio; Sjøbak, Kyrre; Farabolini, Wilfrid; Corsini, R.; Jaroszynski, D. A.

doi:10.1038/s42005-021-00536-0

Cited by 35 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The possibility of converging 160 MeV VHEE beams in water, decreasing the beam width from 7.7 to 3.0 mm on one axis, was then demonstrated experimentally at the CLEAR facility using external magnetic fields and two electromagnetic quadrupole triplets [ 51 ]. This approach has also been strengthened by MC simulations, and experimentally demonstrated at 158 and 201 MeV by another group [ 42 , 52 ], allowing for laterally focused beams to be obtained (FWHM between 2 and 6 mm). The depth dose curves of these symmetrically focused electrons also show a depth peak and a more favorable dose distribution with reduced proximal and distal doses.…”

Section: Very High-energy Electrons and Their Potential Application In Radiation Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two irradiation areas are available for users to study X-band RF components (typically around 12 GHz) and novel concepts such as the use of plasma or THz-wavelength radiation for charged-particle acceleration, but also the radiation hardness resistance of electronic devices and medical applications. Several studies on the use of VHEE beams for clinical employment were already conducted at CLEAR, especially in the field of dosimetry in very high dose rates conditions [ 51 , 52 , 71 , 87 , 88 ].…”

Section: Accelerators For Vheesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Back to the Future: Very High-Energy Electrons (VHEEs) and Their Potential Application in Radiation Therapy

Ronga

Cavallone

Patriarca

et al. 2021

Cancers

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The development of innovative approaches that would reduce the sensitivity of healthy tissues to irradiation while maintaining the efficacy of the treatment on the tumor is of crucial importance for the progress of the efficacy of radiotherapy. Recent methodological developments and innovations, such as scanned beams, ultra-high dose rates, and very high-energy electrons, which may be simultaneously available on new accelerators, would allow for possible radiobiological advantages of very short pulses of ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) therapy for radiation therapy to be considered. In particular, very high-energy electron (VHEE) radiotherapy, in the energy range of 100 to 250 MeV, first proposed in the 2000s, would be particularly interesting both from a ballistic and biological point of view for the establishment of this new type of irradiation technique. In this review, we examine and summarize the current knowledge on VHEE radiotherapy and provide a synthesis of the studies that have been published on various experimental and simulation works. We will also consider the potential for VHEE therapy to be translated into clinical contexts.

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Section: Very High-energy Electrons and Their Potential Application In Radiation Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accelerators For Vheesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Future: Very High-Energy Electrons (VHEEs) and Their Potential Application in Radiation Therapy

Ronga

Cavallone

Patriarca

et al. 2021

Cancers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The advent of 'C-band' accelerating structures (11,(17)(18)(19) allows to reach the 50 MeV/m accelerating field suited for the VHEE implementation in a clinical centre. In our simulations the beam characteristics are those that are common to all the proposed conventional electron linac solutions with energy greater than 50 MeV (23,24): the beam has transverse size (0~mm) and divergence (0~mrad). We also restricted ourselves to consider only the relatively low energy range of VHEE: 70 to 130 MeV.…”

Section: Absorbed Dose Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Seated Tumour Treatments With Electrons of High Energy Delivered at FLASH Rates: The Example of Prostate Cancer

et al. 2021

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Different therapies are adopted for the treatment of deep seated tumours in combination or as an alternative to surgical removal or chemotherapy: radiotherapy with photons (RT), particle therapy (PT) with protons or even heavier ions like 12C, are now available in clinical centres. In addition to these irradiation modalities, the use of Very High Energy Electron (VHEE) beams (100–200 MeV) has been suggested in the past, but the diffusion of that technique was delayed due to the needed space and budget, with respect to standard photon devices. These disadvantages were not paired by an increased therapeutic efficacy, at least when comparing to proton or carbon ion beams. In this contribution we investigate how recent developments in electron beam therapy could reshape the treatments of deep seated tumours. In this respect we carefully explored the application of VHEE beams to the prostate cancer, a well-known and studied example of deep seated tumour currently treated with high efficacy both using RT and PT. The VHEE Treatment Planning System was obtained by means of an accurate Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of the electrons interactions with the patient body. A simple model of the FLASH effect (healthy tissues sparing at ultra-high dose rates), has been introduced and the results have been compared with conventional RT. The study demonstrates that VHEE beams, even in absence of a significant FLASH effect and with a reduced energy range (70–130 MeV) with respect to implementations already explored in literature, could be a good alternative to standard RT, even in the framework of technological developments that are nowadays affordable.

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“…On the other hand, magnetic fields can be used to intentionally deflect or focus particle beams around the treatment isocenter: this approach has been proposed by [ 27 ], who demonstrated the feasibility of converging 160 MeV VHEE beams using external magnetic fields and two electromagnetic quadrupole triplets, or by [ 28 , 29 ], who proposed a new technique for generating a proton minibeam through magnetic focusing in an optimized nozzle design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Converging Proton Minibeams with Magnetic Fields for Optimized Radiation Therapy: A Proof of Concept

Cavallone

Prezado

Marzi

2021

Cancers

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Proton MiniBeam Radiation Therapy (pMBRT) is a novel strategy that combines the benefits of minibeam radiation therapy with the more precise ballistics of protons to further optimize the dose distribution and reduce radiation side effects. The aim of this study is to investigate possible strategies to couple pMBRT with dipole magnetic fields to generate a converging minibeam pattern and increase the center-to-center distance between minibeams. Magnetic field optimization was performed so as to obtain the same transverse dose profile at the Bragg peak position as in a reference configuration with no magnetic field. Monte Carlo simulations reproducing realistic pencil beam scanning settings were used to compute the dose in a water phantom. We analyzed different minibeam generation techniques, such as the use of a static multislit collimator or a dynamic aperture, and different magnetic field positions, i.e., before or within the water phantom. The best results were obtained using a dynamic aperture coupled with a magnetic field within the water phantom. For a center-to-center distance increase from 4 mm to 6 mm, we obtained an increase of peak-to-valley dose ratio and decrease of valley dose above 50%. The results indicate that magnetic fields can be effectively used to improve the spatial modulation at shallow depth for enhanced healthy tissue sparing.

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An experimental study of focused very high energy electron beams for radiotherapy

Cited by 35 publications

References 52 publications

Back to the Future: Very High-Energy Electrons (VHEEs) and Their Potential Application in Radiation Therapy

Back to the Future: Very High-Energy Electrons (VHEEs) and Their Potential Application in Radiation Therapy

Deep Seated Tumour Treatments With Electrons of High Energy Delivered at FLASH Rates: The Example of Prostate Cancer

Converging Proton Minibeams with Magnetic Fields for Optimized Radiation Therapy: A Proof of Concept

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