Positron emission tomography is a valuable method for in situ and non invasive monitoring of the accuracy of the treatment in hadron therapy. It takes advantage of short lived β +- emitters spontaneously produced in the biological tissues during irradiation, by means of projectile and/or target nuclei fragmentations. Although β + - emitter production cross-sections and hadron stopping power exhibit a different dependence on the hadron energy, it is' still possible to extract non invasively in vivo information about dose localization reconstructing the distribution of positron annihilation points. Our research within the DoPET (Dosimetry with a Positron Emission Tomograph) project aim to develop and characterize an ad hoc in beam dual-head PET scanner for the quality control in proton therapy. The realized prototype has been already tested on homogeneous poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantoms by measuring the β + - activation induced by 62 MeV proton beam at Catana facility (LNS, Catania, Italy). The experimental nvestigation has shown the feasibility of this system for detecting small range variations along the beam direction, with an accuracy less than one millimeter. In this paper we extend the previous analysis by reporting and discussing the results we obtained on several inhomogeneous targets, so as to investigate the sensitivity and accuracy of the PET prototype depending on target geometrical arrangements and chemical composition.
Characterization of an in-beam PET prototype for proton therapy with different target composition
BELCARI, NICOLA;ROSSO, VALERIA;
2008-01-01
Abstract
Positron emission tomography is a valuable method for in situ and non invasive monitoring of the accuracy of the treatment in hadron therapy. It takes advantage of short lived β +- emitters spontaneously produced in the biological tissues during irradiation, by means of projectile and/or target nuclei fragmentations. Although β + - emitter production cross-sections and hadron stopping power exhibit a different dependence on the hadron energy, it is' still possible to extract non invasively in vivo information about dose localization reconstructing the distribution of positron annihilation points. Our research within the DoPET (Dosimetry with a Positron Emission Tomograph) project aim to develop and characterize an ad hoc in beam dual-head PET scanner for the quality control in proton therapy. The realized prototype has been already tested on homogeneous poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantoms by measuring the β + - activation induced by 62 MeV proton beam at Catana facility (LNS, Catania, Italy). The experimental nvestigation has shown the feasibility of this system for detecting small range variations along the beam direction, with an accuracy less than one millimeter. In this paper we extend the previous analysis by reporting and discussing the results we obtained on several inhomogeneous targets, so as to investigate the sensitivity and accuracy of the PET prototype depending on target geometrical arrangements and chemical composition.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
