The ANDANTE project: a multidisciplinary approach to neutron RBE

Ottolenghi, A.; Baiocco, G.; Smyth, Vere; Trott, Klaus R.

doi:10.1093/rpd/ncv158

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Neutron RBE results for the most internal and mid-depth scoring regions as a function of primary neutron energy are included as Supplementary Material . For the reference photon field we have used the X-ray spectrum generated by a Xstrahl-200 machine (220 kV field, 2 mm Cu filter) 9 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, understanding the mechanisms at the basis of damage induction by neutrons generated during particle therapy (and high-energy photon therapy) should help scientists reassess the safety of possible radiotherapy alternatives 8 9 . An example of a roadmap to be followed in this sense entails the need for predictions of neutron RBE at any location in patients treated with proton therapy: this is demonstrated to be feasible and the results presented in this work can serve as input for this purpose 41 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Simulations for the reference photon field for the evaluation of neutron RBEs were run with the same setup, scoring field characteristics in the most external scoring region. The spectrum of X-rays generated by a Xstrahl-200 machine has been used (220 kV field, 2 mm Cu filter) 9 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…New experimental and theoretical efforts have been recently undertaken in the framework of the European project ANDANTE 9 , with the overarching objective of determining values of RBE for neutrons for specific tissues and neutron energies. The context of the project is specifically the possible role of secondary neutrons in the induction of second primary neoplasms following particle therapy, especially for pediatric patients.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The origin of neutron biological effectiveness as a function of energy

Baiocco

Barbieri

Babini

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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The understanding of the impact of radiation quality in early and late responses of biological targets to ionizing radiation exposure necessarily grounds on the results of mechanistic studies starting from physical interactions. This is particularly true when, already at the physical stage, the radiation field is mixed, as it is the case for neutron exposure. Neutron Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) is energy dependent, maximal for energies ~1 MeV, varying significantly among different experiments. The aim of this work is to shed light on neutron biological effectiveness as a function of field characteristics, with a comprehensive modeling approach: this brings together transport calculations of neutrons through matter (with the code PHITS) and the predictive power of the biophysical track structure code PARTRAC in terms of DNA damage evaluation. Two different energy dependent neutron RBE models are proposed: the first is phenomenological and based only on the characterization of linear energy transfer on a microscopic scale; the second is purely ab-initio and based on the induction of complex DNA damage. Results for the two models are compared and found in good qualitative agreement with current standards for radiation protection factors, which are agreed upon on the basis of RBE data.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The origin of neutron biological effectiveness as a function of energy

Baiocco

Barbieri

Babini

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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“…It is necessary to study RBE for tumor induction as a function of neutron dose, energy, dose-rate, tissue type, and size of the exposed patient. Currently, the EU project ANDANTE ( 23 ) is exploring the question of neutron RBE.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Neutrons in Clinical Proton Therapy

Schneider¹,

Hälg²

2015

Front. Oncol.

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In proton therapy, high-energy proton beams cause the production of secondary neutrons. This leads to an unwanted dose contribution, which can be considerable for tissues outside of the target volume regarding the long-term health of cancer patients. Due to the high biological effectiveness of neutrons with regard to cancer induction, small neutron doses can be important. Published comparisons of neutron dose measurements and the corresponding estimates of cancer risk between different treatment modalities differ over orders of magnitude. In this report, the controversy about the impact of the neutron dose in proton therapy is critically discussed and viewed in the light of new epidemiological studies. In summary, the impact of neutron dose on cancer risk can be determined correctly only if the dose distributions are carefully measured or computed. It is important to include not only the neutron component into comparisons but also the complete deposition of energy as precisely as possible. Cancer risk comparisons between different radiation qualities, treatment machines, and techniques have to be performed under similar conditions. It seems that in the past, the uncertainty in the models which lead from dose to risk were overestimated when compared with erroneous dose comparisons. Current risk models used with carefully obtained dose distributions predict a second cancer risk reduction for active protons vs. photons and a more or less constant risk of passive protons vs. photons. Those findings are in general agreement with newly obtained epidemiologically results.

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