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AbstractAbstract
[en] In the last few decades, ion-beam radiotherapy has emerged as a highly effective tumor treatment modality. Its success relies on the capability to precisely confine the prescribed dose within the target volume, due to the inverted depth-dose profile and the finite range featured by charged particles. However, to fully exploit the physical and biological advantages of ion-beams, it is necessary to prioritize on innovative imaging techniques to monitor the ion-range inside the patient. Main range uncertainties result from X-ray-based calibration of the ion relative Water Equivalent Path Length (rWEPL) during the planning phase, and patient anatomical or positioning variation during the treatment. In this thesis, low-dose carbon-ion transmissionimaging performed with a Residual Range Detector (RRD) is proposed as imaging strategy for actively scanned beam delivery facilities. It enables the verification of the beam range and the patient positioning with ion-radiographies (iRAD), and ion computed tomographies (iCT) can directly provide the ion stopping-power of the traversed tissue for treatment planning purposes. First experimental investigations aiming to minimize the imaging dose to the object are presented. The performance of the integration-mode multi-channel array of 61 parallel-plate ionization chambers (PPICs), interleaved with 3 mm thickness PMMA slabs, was thoroughly investigated for low-fluence irradiation. This characterization has been pursued in terms of beam-monitoring performance at the Heidelberg Ion-beam Therapy Center (HIT, Heidelberg, Germany), RRD signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), RRD charge-collection efficiency and drift voltage applied to the PPICs. Pixel-wise metrics for signal quality evaluation based on specific channel-charge features have been developed to support the visual assessment of the acquired images. Phantoms of different complexity and tissue-equivalent composition were imaged with high (5000 primaries per raster-scanning point (RP)), middle (1000 primaries per RP) and low imaging dose (500 primaries per RP) in the radiographic domain, whereas only high dose tomographic acquisitions were experimentally performed. Dedicated Monte Carlo (MC)-based post-processing methods, developed at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (Munich, Germany), were applied to improve the retrieval of Water Equivalent Thickness (WET) variations in lateral (spatial resolution) and longitudinal (ion range resolution) directions, for iRADs, and rWEPL in the tomographic case. An exhaustive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the acquired images was made in comparison with the ground-truth and simulated data in terms of physical-dose to the object [Gy], accuracy [% of Relative Error (RE)] and overall image quality [NRMSD]. iRADs were produced with 0.5 to 1 mGy imaging dose and an absolute mean WET-RE within 1.5%. Tomographies of two heterogeneous phantoms were acquired in the high dose regime, yielding 4 Gy imaging dose and a RE in rWEPL below 1%, for a geometry that resembles an anatomical scenario. Nonetheless, the findings in the low dose projection studies indicate that the dose of tomographic acquisitions with the current experimental setup can be reduced down to 0.2 Gy. Furthermore, the improved readout system tests and MC simulations establish the possibility to decrease the dose received by the imaged object by about one order of magnitude down (∝0.03 Gy), which lies in the clinically accepted range. Finally, the ongoing imaging system upgrade and the potential integration with single-ion tracking detectors is outlined. The outcome of this thesis highlights the strengths and weaknesses of ion transmission-imaging with the investigated integration-mode RRD, paving the way to future improvements towards eventual application to the ion-beam therapy clinical work-flow. Although further optimization is still required for clinical application, ion-based transmission-imaging has demonstrated its potentiality to generate accurate low-dose iRADs and iCTs at the treatment site, bringing together the required features to optimize the quality of the ion-beam therapy.
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Source
21 Feb 2017; 230 p; Diss.
Record Type
Miscellaneous
Literature Type
Thesis/Dissertation
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ACCURACY, BIOMEDICAL RADIOGRAPHY, CALIBRATION, CARBON IONS, COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION, DEPTH DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS, DIAGNOSTIC USES, ERRORS, EXTERNAL BEAM RADIATION THERAPY, ION BEAMS, IONIZATION CHAMBERS, LOW DOSE IRRADIATION, MONTE CARLO METHOD, OPTIMIZATION, PHANTOMS, POSITIONING, SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO, SPATIAL DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS, STOPPING POWER, THERAPEUTIC USES, TOMOGRAPHY, TRANSMISSION, X-RAY RADIOGRAPHY
BEAMS, CALCULATION METHODS, CHARGED PARTICLES, DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES, DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS, INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY, IONS, IRRADIATION, MATERIALS TESTING, MEASURING INSTRUMENTS, MEDICINE, MOCKUP, NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING, NUCLEAR MEDICINE, RADIATION DETECTORS, RADIATION DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS, RADIOLOGY, RADIOTHERAPY, SIMULATION, SPATIAL DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS, STRUCTURAL MODELS, TESTING, THERAPY, USES
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