138 research outputs found
Proton radiography to calibrate relative proton stopping power from X-ray CT in proton radiotherapy
Proton radiography to improve proton radiotherapy: Simulation study at different proton beam energies
To improve the quality of cancer treatment with protons, a translation of
X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) images into a map of the proton stopping powers
needs to be more accurate. Proton stopping powers determined from CT images
have systematic uncertainties in the calculated proton range in a patient of
typically 3-4\% and even up to 10\% in region containing
bone~\cite{USchneider1995,USchneider1996,WSchneider2000,GCirrone2007,HPaganetti2012,TPlautz2014,GLandry2013,JSchuemann2014}.
As a consequence, part of a tumor may receive no dose, or a very high dose can
be delivered in healthy ti\-ssues and organs at risks~(e.g. brain
stem)~\cite{ACKnopf2013}. A transmission radiograph of high-energy protons
measuring proton stopping powers directly will allow to reduce these
uncertainties, and thus improve the quality of treatment.
The best way to obtain a sufficiently accurate radiograph is by tracking
individual protons traversing the phantom
(patient)~\cite{GCirrone2007,TPlautz2014,VSipala2013}. In our simulations we
have used an ideal position sensitive detectors measuring a single proton
before and after a phantom, while the residual energy of a proton was detected
by a BaF crystal. To obtain transmission radiographs, diffe\-rent phantom
materials have been irradiated with a 3x3~cm scattered proton beam, with
various beam energies. The simulations were done using the Geant4 simulation
package~\cite{SAgostinelli2003}.
In this study we focus on the simulations of the energy loss radiographs for
various proton beam energies that are clinically available in proton
radiotherapy.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, Presented at Jagiellonian Symposium on
Fundamental and Applied Subatomic Physics, 7-12 June, 2015, Krak\'ow, Polan
Evidence of the Coulomb force effects in the cross sections of the deuteron-proton breakup at 130 MeV
High precision cross-section data of the deuteron-proton breakup reaction at
130 MeV deuteron energy are compared with the theoretical predictions obtained
with a coupled-channel extension of the CD Bonn potential with virtual
Delta-isobar excitation, without and with inclusion of the long-range Coulomb
force. The Coulomb effect is studied on the basis of the cross-section data
set, extended in this work to about 1500 data points by including breakup
geometries characterized by small polar angles of the two protons. The
experimental data clearly prefer predictions obtained with the Coulomb
interaction included. The strongest effects are observed in regions in which
the relative energy of the two protons is the smallest.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physics Letters
Proton tracking in a high-granularity Digital Tracking Calorimeter for proton CT purposes
Radiation therapy with protons as of today utilizes information from x-ray CT
in order to estimate the proton stopping power of the traversed tissue in a
patient. The conversion from x-ray attenuation to proton stopping power in
tissue introduces range uncertainties of the order of 2-3% of the range,
uncertainties that are contributing to an increase of the necessary planning
margins added to the target volume in a patient. Imaging methods and
modalities, such as Dual Energy CT and proton CT, have come into consideration
in the pursuit of obtaining an as good as possible estimate of the proton
stopping power. In this study, a Digital Tracking Calorimeter is benchmarked
for proof-of-concept for proton CT purposes. The Digital Tracking Calorimeteris
applied for reconstruction of the tracks and energies of individual high energy
protons. The presented prototype forms the basis for a proton CT system using a
single technology for tracking and calorimetry. This advantage simplifies the
setup and reduces the cost of a proton CT system assembly, and it is a unique
feature of the Digital Tracking Calorimeter. Data from the AGORFIRM beamline at
KVI-CART in Groningen in the Netherlands and Monte Carlo simulation results are
used to in order to develop a tracking algorithm for the estimation of the
residual ranges of a high number of concurrent proton tracks. The range of the
individual protons can at present be estimated with a resolution of 4%. The
readout system for this prototype is able to handle an effective proton
frequency of 1 MHz by using 500 concurrent proton tracks in each readout frame,
which is at the high end range of present similar prototypes. A future further
optimized prototype will enable a high-speed and more accurate determination of
the ranges of individual protons in a therapeutic beam.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Fluorescent Nanodiamonds for Tracking Single Polymer Particles in Cells and Tissues
Polymer nanoparticles are widely used in drug delivery and are also a potential concern due to the increased burden of nano- or microplastics in the environment. In order to use polymer nanoparticles safely and understand their mechanism of action, it is useful to know where within cells and tissues they end up. To this end, we labeled polymer nanoparticles with nanodiamond particles. More specifically, we have embedded nanodiamond particles in the polymer particles and characterized the composites. Compared to conventional fluorescent dyes, these labels have the advantage that nanodiamonds do not bleach or blink, thus allowing long-term imaging and tracking of polymer particles. We have demonstrated this principle both in cells and entire liver tissues.</p
Experimental assessment of relative stopping power prediction by single energy and dual energy CT
Corrigendum: Short-lived positron emitters in beam-on PET imaging during proton therapy (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 8923)
Because of strong indications of multiple counting by the multi-channel scaler (MCS) during most of the experiments described in Dendooven et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 8923–47), the production of short-lived positron emitters in the stopping of 55 MeV protons in water, carbon, phosphorus and calcium was remeasured. The new results are reported here. With proper single counting of the MCS, the new production rates are 1.1 to 2.9 times smaller than reported in Dendooven et al (2015 Phys. Med. Biol. 60 8923–47). The omission of the conversion from MCS time bin to time unit in the previous data analysis was corrected, leading to an increase of the production rate by a factor of 2.5 or 10 for some nuclides. The most copiously produced short-lived nuclides and their production rates relative to the relevant long-lived nuclides are: 12N (T 1/2  =  11 ms) on carbon (5.3% of 11C), 29P (T 1/2  =  4.1 s) on phosphorus (23% of 30P) and 38mK (T 1/2  =  0.92 s) on calcium (173% of 38gK). The number of decays integrated from the start of an irradiation as a function of time during the irradiation of PMMA and 4 tissue materials has been determined. For (carbon-rich) adipose tissue, 12N dominates up to 70 s. On bone tissue, 38mK dominates the beam-on PET counts from 0.2–0.7 s until about 80–110 s. Considering nuclides created on phosphorus and calcium, the short-lived ones provide 8 times more decays than the long-lived ones during a 70 s irradiation. Bone tissue will thus be much better visible in beam-on PET compared to PET imaging after an irradiation. From the estimated number of 12N PET counts, we conclude that, for any tissue, except carbon-poor ones, 12N PET imaging potentially provides equal quality proton range information as prompt gamma imaging with an optimized knife-edge slit camera
Influence of three-nucleon force effects on polarization observables of the H-1((d)over-bar,pp)n breakup reaction at 130 mev
High-precision vector and tensor breakup analyzing powers for the reaction 1H(~d, pp)n at 130 MeV were evaluated for a large phase space region. Results are compared with rigorous theoretical calculations based on realistic nucleon–nucleon potentials as well as on chiral perturbation theory approach. Theoretical predictions generally describe data quite well, only in a few cases influence of three-nucleon forces is significant
Vector and tensor analyzing powers in deuteron-proton breakup at 130 MeV
High-precision data for vector and tensor analyzing powers for the 1H(d,pp)n reaction at a 130-MeV deuteron beam energy have been measured over a large part of the phase space. Theoretical predictions based on various approaches to describe the three nucleon (3N) system reproduce very well the vector analyzing power data and no three-nucleon force effect is observed for these observables. Tensor analyzing powers are also very well reproduced by calculations in almost the whole studied region, but locally certain discrepancies are observed. For Axy such discrepancies usually appear, or are enhanced, when model 3N forces, TM99 or Urbana, are included. Problems of all theoretical approaches with describing Axx and Ayy are limited to very small kinematical regions, usually characterized by the lowest energy of the relative motion of the two protons
Cross Sections of the Deuteron-Proton Breakup at 130 MeV:A Probe of Three-Nucleon System Dynamics
Three-nucleon system dynamics can be investigated quantitatively by comparing observables calculated with the use of Faddeev equations with results of precise measurements. Proper description of the experimental data can be achieved only if the dynamical models include, in addition to the nucleon-nucleon interaction, subtle effects of suppressed degrees of freedom, effectively introduced by means of genuine three-nucleon forces. A large set of high precision, exclusive cross-section data for the (1)H(d,pp)n breakup reaction at 130 MeV contributes significantly to constrain the physical assumptions underlying the theoretical interaction models. Comparison of nearly 1,800 cross section data points with the predictions using nuclear interactions generated in various ways, allowed to establish importance of including both, the three-nucleon and the Coulomb forces to significantly improve the description of the whole data set
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