Short-lived radioactive
8Li and
8He ions for hadrontherapy: a simulation study.
Phys Med Biol 2023;
68. [PMID:
36731132 DOI:
10.1088/1361-6560/acb88b]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Purpose.Although charged particle therapy (CPT) for cancer treatment has grown these past years, the use of protons and carbon ions for therapy remains debated compared to x-ray therapy. While a biological advantage of protons is not clearly demonstrated, therapy using carbon ions is often pointed out for its high cost. Furthermore, the nuclear interactions undergone by carbons inside the patient are responsible for an additional dose delivered after the Bragg peak, which deteriorates the ballistic advantage of CPT. Therefore, a renewed interest for lighter ions with higher biological efficiency than protons was recently observed. In this context, helium and lithium ions represent a good compromise between protons and carbons, as they exhibit a higher linear energy transfer (LET) than protons in the Bragg peak and can be accelerated by cyclotrons. The possibility of accelerating radioactive8Li, decaying in 2α-particles, and8He, decaying in8Li byβ-decay, is particularly interesting.Methods. This work aims to assess the interest of the use of8Li and8He ions for therapy by Monte Carlo simulations carried out withGeant4.Results. It was calculated that the8Li and8He decay results in an increase of the LET of almost a factor 2 in the Bragg peak compared to stable7Li and4He. This results also in a higher dose deposited in the Bragg peak without an increase of the dose in the plateau region. It was also shown that both8He and8Li can have a potential interest for prompt-gamma monitoring techniques. Finally, the feasibility of accelerating facilities delivering8Li and8He was also discussed.Conclusion. In this study, we demonstrate that both8Li and8He have interesting properties for therapy. Indeed, simulations predict that8Li and8He are a good compromise between proton and12C, both in terms of LET and dose.
Collapse