P. Henriquet

Design Guidelines for a Double Scattering Compton Camera for Prompt-

In hadrontherapy in order to fully take advantage of the assets of the ion irradiation, the position of the Bragg peak has to be monitored accurately. Here, we investigate a monitoring method relying on the detection in real time of the prompt γ emitted quasi instantaneously during the nuclear fragmentation processes. Our detection system combines a beam hodoscope and a double scattering Compton camera. The prompt-γ emission points are reconstructed by intersecting the ion trajectories given by the hodoscope and the Compton cones reconstructed with the camera. We propose here to study in terms of point spread function and efficiency the theoretical feasibility of the emission points reconstruction with our set-up in the case of a photon point source in air. First we analyze the nature of all the interactions which are likely to produce an energy deposit in the three detectors of the camera. It is underlined that upper energy thresholds in both scatter detectors are required in order to select mainly Compton events (one Compton interaction in each scatter detector and one interaction in the absorber detector). Then, we study the influence of various parameters such as the photon energy and the inter-detector distances on the Compton camera response. These studies are carried out by means of Geant4 simulations. We use a source with a spectrum corresponding to the prompt-γ spectrum emitted during the carbon ion irradiation of a water phantom. In the current configuration, the spatial resolution of the Compton camera is about 6 mm (Full Width at Half Maximum) and the detection efficiency 10-5. Finally, provided the detection efficiency is increased, the clinical applicability of our system is considered.

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In hadron therapy in order to fully take advantage of the assets of the ion irradiation, the position of the Bragg peak has to be monitored accurately. Here, we propose a monitoring method relying on the detection in real time of the prompt γ emitted quasi instantaneously during the nuclear fragmentation processes. Our detection system combines a beam hodoscope and a double scattering Compton camera. The prompt γ emission points are reconstructed by intersecting the ion trajectories given by the hodoscope and the Compton cones reconstructed with the camera. We studied the influence of various parameters such as the photon energy and the inter-detector distances on the Compton camera response to a photon point source. This study was carried out by means of Geant4 simulations. In the current configuration, for a photon source with a typical prompt γ spectrum, the spatial resolution of the Compton camera is about 5.6 mm and the detection efficiency 10-5.

Imaging During Ion Beam Therapy: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study

During therapeutic treatment with heavy ions like carbon, the beam undergoes nuclear fragmentation and secondary light charged particles, in particular protons and alpha particles, are produced. To estimate the dose deposited into the tumors and the surrounding healthy tissues, an accurate prediction on the fluences of these secondary fragments is necessary. Nowadays, a very limited set of double di ffential carbon fragmentation cross sections are being measured in the energy range used in hadrontherapy (40 to 400 MeV/u). Therefore, new measurements are performed to determine the double di ffential cross section of carbon on di erent thin targets. This work describes the experimental results of an experiment performed on May 2011 at GANIL. The double di ffential cross sections and the angular distributions of secondary fragments produced in the 12C fragmentation at 95 MeV/u on thin targets (C, CH2, Al, Al2O3, Ti and PMMA) have been measured. The experimental setup will be precisely described, the systematic error study will be explained and all the experimental data will be presented.

Design study of a Compton camera for prompt γ imaging during ion beam therapy

Longitudinal prompt-gamma ray profiles have been measured with a multi-slit multi-detector configuration at a 75 MeV/u 13C beam and with a PMMA target. Selections in time-of-flight and energy have been applied in order to discriminate prompt-gamma rays produced in the target from background events. The ion ranges which have been extracted from each individual detector module agree amongst each other and are consistent with theoretical expectations. In a separate dedicated experiment with 200 MeV/u 12C ions the fraction of inter-detector scattering has been determined to be on the 10%-level via a combination of experimental results and simulations. At the same experiment different collimator configurations have been tested and the shielding properties of tungsten and lead for prompt-gamma rays have been measured.

Double differential fragmentation cross-section measurements of 95 MeV/u 12C on thin targets for hadrontherapy

During therapeutic treatment with heavier ions like carbon, the beam undergoes nuclear fragmentation and secondary light charged particles, in particular protons and alpha particles, are produced. To estimate the dose deposited into the tumors and the surrounding healthy tissues, the accuracy must be higher than ±3% and±1 mm. Therefore, measurements are performed to determine the double differential cross-section for different reactions. In this paper, the analysis of data from 12C +12C reactions at 95 MeV/u are presented. The emitted particles are detected with ΔEthin−ΔEthick−E telescopes made of a stack of two silicon detectors and a CsI crystal. Two different methods are used to identify the particles. One is based on graphical cuts onto the ΔE−E maps, the second is based on the so-called KaliVeda method using a functional description of ΔE versus E. The results of the two methods will be presented in this paper as well as the comparison between both.