A novel range telescope concept for proton CT. (3rd February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Granado-González, M; Jesús-Valls, C; Lux, T; Price, T; Sánchez, F
• Is Part Of: Physics in medicine & biology. Volume 67:Number 3(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-02-03
• Subjects: proton CT -- range telescope -- CT scan -- proton therapy -- tracking -- Monte Carlo simulation; Biophysics -- Periodicals; Medical physics -- Periodicals; 610.153
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac4b39
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-9155

Abstract

Abstract: Proton beam therapy can potentially offer improved treatment for cancers of the head and neck and in paediatric patients. There has been a sharp uptake of proton beam therapy in recent years as improved delivery techniques and patient benefits are observed. However, treatments are currently planned using conventional x-ray CT images due to the absence of devices able to perform high quality proton computed tomography (pCT) under realistic clinical conditions. A new plastic-scintillator-based range telescope concept, named ASTRA, is proposed here to measure the proton's energy loss in a pCT system. Simulations conducted using GEANT4 yield an expected energy resolution of 0.7%. If calorimetric information is used the energy resolution could be further improved to about 0.5%. In addition, the ability of ASTRA to track multiple protons simultaneously is presented. Due to its fast components, ASTRA is expected to reach unprecedented data collection rates, similar to 10 8 protons/s. The performance of ASTRA has also been tested by simulating the imaging of phantoms. The results show excellent image contrast and relative stopping power reconstruction.