Investigating variable rbe in a ¹²C mini-beam field with microdosimetry and Geant4

An experimental and simulation-based study was performed on a ¹²C ion mini-beam radiation therapy (MBRT) field produced with a clinical broad beam and a brass multi-slit collimator (MSC). Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microdosimeters developed at the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP) with micron sized sensitive volumes were used to measure the microdosimetric spectra at varying positions throughout the MBRT field and the corresponding dose-mean lineal energies and RBE for 10% cell survival (RBE10) were calculated using the modified Microdosimetric Kinetic Model (MKM). An increase in the average RBE10 of ∼30% and 10% was observed in the plateau region compared to broad beam for experimental and simulation values, respectively. The experimental collimator misalignment was determined to be 0.7 deg. by comparison between measured and simulated microdosimetric spectra at varying collimator angles. The simulated dose-mean lineal energies in the valley region between mini-beams were found to be higher on average than in the mini-beams due to higher LET particles being produced in these regions from the MSC. This work presents the first experimental microdosimetry measurements and characterisation of the local biological effectiveness in a MBRT field. (authors)