Development of a New Prompt-Gamma Imaging Camera for In-Vivo Proton Range Verification ( II ~ III )

Proton therapy is one of the most precise modalities of external radiation therapy. Unlike a photon beam which has a high entrance dose and decreases gradually while passing through the body, a proton beam can penetrate through tissues and deposit most of its energy near the end of its track, known as the Bragg peak. However, proton therapy is also more sensitive to uncertainties in treatment planning and delivery compared to photon therapy. Proton range inaccuracy is particularly of concern. If the range of the beam is known more precisely, range margins can be reduced and new treatment plan designs would become feasible, leading to a lower integral dose to the patient. Continuous monitoring of deviations in the end-of-range can also facilitate adaptations over the course of treatment. In this proposal, we propose to develop a novel side-on Compton camera detector for verifying the range of proton beams by use of secondary prompt gamma-rays. The design of the side-on scintillation detector has several advantages, such as high scattered photons capture ability because of its short distance between scattered detectors, nanosecond time resolution to keep from non-true coincident events detection to degrade the image quality, cost-effective large field-of-view camera production, etc. We believe the proposed side-on Compton camera will be very valuable in the future proton therapy applications.

Project ID:PB10607-1406
External Project ID:MOST106-2221-E182-016-MY2