Proton beam therapy: reliability of the synchrocyclotron at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory

Sisterson, J. M.; Cascio, E; Koehler, Andreas; Johnson, Kristin

doi:10.1088/0031-9155/36/2/012

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…While proton radiotherapy has been performed for quite a while (Loeffler et al 1997, Miller 1995, Slater et al 1992, Wilson 1946, radiotherapy with heavier ions has only recently gained considerable interest (Jäkel et al 2003, 2008, Karger and Jäkel 2007, Schulz-Ertner et al 2006, Schulz-Ertner and Tsujii 2007. Worldwide, numerous facilities started their clinical operation or will start in the near future (Amaldi 2004, Amaldi and Kraft 2007, Arjomandy et al 2009, Haberer et al 2004, Hishikawa et al 2004, Kraft 1998, Pedroni et al 1999, Sisterson 2005, Torikoshi et al 2007. While the biological effect of clinical proton beams is only slightly higher than that of photon beams, heavier ions are known to exhibit a significantly increased biological effectiveness especially in the Bragg peak (Kraft 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dosimetry for ion beam radiotherapy

et al. 2010

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Recently, ion beam radiotherapy (including protons as well as heavier ions) gained considerable interest. Although ion beam radiotherapy requires dose prescription in terms of iso-effective dose (referring to an iso-effective photon dose), absorbed dose is still required as an operative quantity to control beam delivery, to characterize the beam dosimetrically and to verify dose delivery. This paper reviews current methods and standards to determine absorbed dose to water in ion beam radiotherapy, including (i) the detectors used to measure absorbed dose, (ii) dosimetry under reference conditions and (iii) dosimetry under non-reference conditions. Due to the LET dependence of the response of films and solid-state detectors, dosimetric measurements are mostly based on ion chambers. While a primary standard for ion beam radiotherapy still remains to be established, ion chamber dosimetry under reference conditions is based on similar protocols as for photons and electrons although the involved uncertainty is larger than for photon beams. For non-reference conditions, dose measurements in tissue-equivalent materials may also be necessary. Regarding the atomic numbers of the composites of tissue-equivalent phantoms, special requirements have to be fulfilled for ion beams. Methods for calibrating the beam monitor depend on whether passive or active beam delivery techniques are used. QA measurements are comparable to conventional radiotherapy; however, dose verification is usually single field rather than treatment plan based. Dose verification for active beam delivery techniques requires the use of multi-channel dosimetry systems to check the compliance of measured and calculated dose for a representative sample of measurement points. Although methods for ion beam dosimetry have been established, there is still room for developments. This includes improvement of the dosimetric accuracy as well as development of more efficient measurement techniques.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dosimetry for ion beam radiotherapy

et al. 2010

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“…There is currently an increasing interest worldwide in using beams of heavy charged particles (e.g. protons and 12 C) for radiation therapy of deep-seated tumours (Sisterson 1997). This is especially true for difficult tumour locations such as the skull base or the prostate, where a highly conformal treatment promises better results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of beam angles for radiotherapy of skull base tumours using charged particles

Jäkel

Debus

2000

Phys. Med. Biol.

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The geometrical treatment configuration for skull base tumours is investigated using three different sources of information. First, an analysis of treatment angle combinations for 50 patients treated with conventional conformal radiation therapy is performed. In a second step, nine treatment plans for a hypothetical heavy ion gantry were prepared. Finally, cylindrical projections of the organs at risk are introduced as a tool to analyse the distribution of treatment angles as well as the treatment geometry for each patient. The results of the analysis for conventional therapy clearly show treatment angle combinations that are preferably used. These findings are also supported by the geometrical analysis using the cylindrical projections. The majority of treatment angles for heavy ions also seem to be confined to those regions. In one case, however, the sharp distal dose fall-off of the heavy ions allowed a beam direction outside these conventionally used regions. The advantages of a heavy ion gantry versus a fixed horizontal beam line are shown by comparison of treatment plans for both systems. Treatment angle combinations are suggested that should be accessible for any beam line design using either fixed beams or a gantry.

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“…Worldwide, around 30 facilities are [13,34,47,55] or have been [4,5] treating patients with protons or heavy ions [50]. Most of these facilities are still operating.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While proton radiotherapy is quite well established and has been used for more than 42,000 patients, treatments with heavy ions were only applied in about 5,000 cases. About 20 additional facilities for protons and heavy ions are planned or already under construction [50]. Currently, all heavy ion facilities are using carbon ions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%