Laser-driven beam lines for delivering intensity modulated radiation therapy with particle beams

Hofmann, K.; Schell, Stefan; Wilkens, Jan J.

doi:10.1063/1.4816610

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…To simulate a compact radiotherapy unit, we assume that the beamline described earlier is mounted on a robotic arm or gantry, which is much smaller than conventional proton gantries since it does not require heavy bending magnets (instead, the laser would be deflected by mirrors, cf. [1]). Beam delivery may be accomplished e.g.…”

Section: Simulation Of the Treatment Roommentioning

confidence: 93%

“…So far, proton therapy is only performed in dedicated facilities using a cyclotron or synchrotron for proton acceleration and enormous particle gantries for their application to the patient. Protons can be accelerated with lasers as well, making it theoretically possible to build compact single room systems since the protons are accelerated over a very short distance and the laser light can be deflected around the patient in a gantry requiring much less space than the magnets necessary to deflect a proton beam [1]. In contrast to conventionally accelerated protons, laser-driven protons typically exhibit a broad energy spectrum, making it possible to select the protons with the desired energy, but at the same time this requires a solution for energy selection and the stopping of protons with unwanted energy which will inevitably produce a lot of secondary particles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of secondary radiation and radiation protection in laser-driven proton therapy

Faby

Wilkens

2015

Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik

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This work is a feasibility study of a radiation treatment unit with laser-driven protons based on a state-of-the-art energy selection system employing four dipole magnets in a compact shielded beamline. The secondary radiation emitted from the beamline and its energy selection system and the resulting effective dose to the patient are assessed. Further, it is evaluated whether or not such a compact system could be operated in a conventional treatment vault for clinical linear accelerators under the constraint of not exceeding the effective dose limit of 1 mSv per year to the general public outside the treatment room. The Monte Carlo code Geant4 is employed to simulate the secondary radiation generated while irradiating a hypothetical tumor. The secondary radiation inevitably generated inside the patient is taken into account as well, serving as a lower limit. The results show that the secondary radiation emanating from the shielded compact therapy system would pose a serious secondary dose contamination to the patient. This is due to the broad energy spectrum and in particular the angular distribution of the laser-driven protons, which make the investigated beamline together with the employed energy selection system quite inefficient. The secondary radiation also cannot be sufficiently absorbed in a conventional linear accelerator treatment vault to enable a clinical operation. A promising result, however, is the fact that the secondary radiation generated in the patient alone could be very well shielded by a regular treatment vault, allowing the application of more than 100 fractions of 2 Gy per day with protons. It is thus theoretically possible to treat patients with protons in such treatment vaults. Nevertheless, the results show that there is a clear need for alternative more efficient energy selection solutions for laser-driven protons.

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Section: Simulation Of the Treatment Roommentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of secondary radiation and radiation protection in laser-driven proton therapy

Faby

Wilkens

2015

Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik

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“…They base this on the need for increasing proton energy, reducing the broad energy spread (spectral width) of protons, possible limits in the pulse repetition rate and the number of accelerated particles per pulse. Hofmann, Schell and Wilkins [80] do however point out that the short pulse nature of the laser processes may be ideal tools for motion adaption during radiotherapy.…”

Section: Beam Transport and Delivery Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Laser Driven Hadron Cancer Radiotherapy: A Review of Progress

et al. 2014

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It has been known for about sixty years that proton and heavy ion therapy is a very powerful radiation procedure for treating tumors. It has an innate ability to irradiate tumors with greater doses and spatial selectivity compared with electron and photon therapy and, hence, is a tissue sparing procedure. For more than twenty years, powerful lasers have generated high energy beams of protons and heavy ions and it has, therefore, frequently been speculated that lasers could be used as an alternative to radiofrequency (RF) accelerators to produce the particle beams necessary for cancer therapy. The present paper reviews the progress made towards laser driven hadron cancer therapy and what has still to be accomplished to realize its inherent enormous potential.

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“…Such collimator-based beamlines are highly inefficient [51] reducing the per bunch dose. The advanced treatment planning technique optimized for LAP beams proposed by Schell [20] and Hofmann [21] could be a good way to go, but the presented method of dose delivery is, however, based on the before mentioned collimator-based beamline.…”

Section: Laser-driven Versus Conventional Ibt Dose Deliverymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, new methods and techniques for beam transport, irradiation field formation and treatment planning [19][20][21], along with beam-monitoring, dosimetry and dose-controlled irradiation [22][23][24][25][26] are required. Moreover, determination of radio-biological effects induced by ultrashort intense particle bunches [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] is necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A compact solution for ion beam therapy with laser accelerated protons

et al. 2014

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The recent advancements in the field of laserdriven particle acceleration have made Laser-driven Ion Beam Therapy (L-IBT) an attractive alternative to the conventional particle therapy facilities. To bring this emerging technology to clinical application, we introduce the broad energy assorted depth dose deposition model which makes efficient use of the large energy spread and high dose-per-pulse of Laser Accelerated Protons (LAP) and is capable of delivering homogeneous doses to tumors. Furthermore, as a key component of L-IBT solution, we present a compact iso-centric gantry design with 360°r otation capability and an integrated shot-to-shot energy selection system for efficient transport of LAP with large energy spread to the patient. We show that gantry size could be reduced by a factor of 2-3 compared to conventional gantry systems by utilizing pulsed air-core magnets.

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Laser-driven beam lines for delivering intensity modulated radiation therapy with particle beams

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Assessment of secondary radiation and radiation protection in laser-driven proton therapy

Assessment of secondary radiation and radiation protection in laser-driven proton therapy

Towards Laser Driven Hadron Cancer Radiotherapy: A Review of Progress

A compact solution for ion beam therapy with laser accelerated protons

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