A proton imaging device: Design and status of realization

Proton radiation therapy is a precise form of cancer therapy, which requires verification of the patient position and the accurate knowledge of the dose delivered to the patient. At present in the proton treatment centre, patients are positioned with X-ray radiography and dose calculations rely on the patient's morphology and electron densities obtained by X-ray computed tomography [U. Schneider, E. Pedroni, Med. Phys. 22 (1995) 353]. A proton imaging device can improve the accuracy of proton radiation therapy treatment planning and the alignment of the patient with the proton beam. Our collaboration has developed a pCR prototype consisting of a silicon microstrip tracker and a calorimeter to detect the residual energy [R. Shulte, et al., IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 51 (2004) 866-872]. In this contribution we will show some results obtained testing the front-end board of the tracker and measurements performed at LNS (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud) and in LLUMC (Loma Linda University Medical Centre) using 60 and 200 MeV proton beams to test the calorimeter.