Dosimetry of clinical neutron and proton beams: an overview of recommendations

Clinical commissioning of intensity-modulated proton therapy systems: Report of AAPM Task Group 185

Proton therapy is an expanding radiotherapy modality in the United States and worldwide. With the number of proton therapy centers treating patients increasing, so does the need for consistent, high-quality clinical commissioning practices. Clinical commissioning encompasses the entire proton therapy system's multiple components, including the treatment delivery system, the patient positioning system, and the image-guided radiotherapy components. Also included in the commissioning process are the x-ray computed tomography scanner calibration for proton stopping power, the radiotherapy treatment planning system, and corresponding portions of the treatment management system. This commissioning report focuses exclusively on intensity-modulated scanning systems, presenting details of how to perform the commissioning of the proton therapy and ancillary systems, including the required proton beam measurements, treatment planning system dose modeling, and the equipment needed.

Microdosimetric characteristics of proton beams from 50 keV to 200 MeV

Proton beams are of growing interest for radiation therapy due to their special physical and radiobiological properties. Microdosimetric characteristics of proton beams have strong influence on the relative biological effectiveness for each biological system. This study focused on the microdosimetric characteristics of monoenergetic protons from 50 keV to 200 MeV. Monte Carlo techniques were used to simulate track segments of protons in water. Dose mean lineal energies were derived to characterise proton beams with changing kinetic energy and changing radiation qualities at various depths and within spread-out Bragg peaks of clinic interests.

Basics of particle therapy II biologic and dosimetric aspects of clinical hadron therapy

Besides photons and electrons, high-energy particles like protons, neutrons, ⁴He ions or heavier ions (C, Ne, etc) have been finding increasing applications in the treatment of radioresistant tumors and tumors located near critical structures. The main difference between photons and hadrons is their different biologic effect and depth-dose distribution. Generally speaking, protons are superior in dosimetric aspects whereas neutrons have advantages in biologic effectiveness because of the high linear energy transfer. In 1946 Robert Wilson first published the physical advantages in dose distribution of ion particles for cancer therapy. Since that time hadronic radiotherapy has been intensively studied in physics laboratories worldwide and clinical application have gradually come to fruition. Hadron therapy was made possible by the advances in accelerator technology, which increases the particles' energy high enough to place them at any depth within the patient's body. As a follow-up to the previous article Introduction to Hadrons, this review discusses certain biologic and dosimetric aspects of using protons, neutrons, and heavy charged particles for radiation therapy.

Determination of the dose-depth distribution of proton beam using resazurin assay in vitro and diode laser-induced fluorescence detection

In this study the dose-depth distribution pattern of proton beams was investigated by inactivation of human cells exposed to high-LET (linear energy transfer) protons. The proton beams accelerated up to 45 MeV were horizontally extracted from the cyclotron, and were delivered to the cells acutely through a home made prototype over a range of physical depths (in the form of a variable water column). The biological systems used here were two in vitro cell lines, including human embryonic kidney cells (HEK 293), and human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7). Cells were exposed to unmodulated proton beam radiation at a dose of 50 Gy similar to that used in therapy. Resazurin metabolism assay was investigated for measurement of cell response to irradiation as a simple and non-destructive assay. In the resazurin reduction test the non-fluorescent probe dye is reduced to pink and highly fluorescent resorufin. The dose-depth distribution of proton beam obtained based on the highly sensitive laser-induced fluorometric determination of resorufin was found to coincide well with the data collected using conventional film based dosimetry. The resazurin method yielded data comparable with the optical micrographs of the irradiated cells, showing the least cell survival at the measured Bragg-peak position of 10 mm. In addition, fused silica capillary was used as a sample container to increase the probability for irradiated laser beam to probe and excite resorufin in small sample volume of the capillary. The developed method has the potential to serve as a non-destructive, sample-thrifty, and time saving tool to realize more realistic, practical dose-depth distribution of proton beam compared to conventional in vitro cell viability assessment techniques.

Some developments in neutron and charged particle dosimetry

There is an increasing need for dosimetry of neutrons and charged particles. Increasing exposure levels are reported in the nuclear industry, deriving from more frequent in-service entries at commercial nuclear power plants, and from increased plant decommissioning and refurbishment activities. Another need stems from the compliance with requirements of the regulations and standards. The European Council directive 96/29 requires dosimetric precautions if the effective dose exceeds 1 mSv a(-1). On average, aircrew members exceed this value. Further, there is a trend of increasing use of charged particles in radiotherapy. The present situation is that we have reasonably good photon dosemeters, but neutron and charged particle dosemeters are still in need of improvements. This work highlights some of the developments in this field. It is mainly concentrated on some developments in passive dosimetry, in particular thermally and optically stimulated luminescent detectors, indicating the direction of ongoing research. It shows that passive dosemeters are still a very active field. Active dosemeters will not be discussed with the exception of new developments in microdosimetric measurements [new types of tissue equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs)]. The TEPC is unique in its ability to provide a simultaneous determination of neutron / charged particle / gamma ray doses, or dose equivalents using a single detector.