Projects per year
Abstract
Very high energy electron (VHEE) beams have been proposed as an alternative
radiotherapy modality to megavoltage photons; they penetrate deeply without
significant scattering in inhomogeneous tissue because of their high relativistic inertia. However, the depth dose distribution of a single, collimated VHEE beam is quasi-uniform, which can lead to healthy tissue being overexposed. This can be largely overcome by focusing the VHEE beam to a small spot. Here we present experiments to demonstrate focusing as a means of concentrating dose into small volumetric elements inside a target. We find good agreement between measured dose distributions and Monte Carlo simulations. Focused radiation beams could be used to precisely target tumours or hypoxic regions of a tumour, which would enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy. The development of new accelerator technologies may provide future compact systems for delivering these focused beams to tumours, a concept that can also be extended to X-rays and hadrons.
radiotherapy modality to megavoltage photons; they penetrate deeply without
significant scattering in inhomogeneous tissue because of their high relativistic inertia. However, the depth dose distribution of a single, collimated VHEE beam is quasi-uniform, which can lead to healthy tissue being overexposed. This can be largely overcome by focusing the VHEE beam to a small spot. Here we present experiments to demonstrate focusing as a means of concentrating dose into small volumetric elements inside a target. We find good agreement between measured dose distributions and Monte Carlo simulations. Focused radiation beams could be used to precisely target tumours or hypoxic regions of a tumour, which would enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy. The development of new accelerator technologies may provide future compact systems for delivering these focused beams to tumours, a concept that can also be extended to X-rays and hadrons.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Communications Physics |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 14 Jan 2021 |
Keywords
- experimental study
- very high energy electron beams
- radiotherapy
- VHEE
- accelerator technologies
- tumours
- X-rays
- hadrons
Projects
-
Lab in a bubble
Jaroszynski, D., Boyd, M., Brunetti, E., Ersfeld, B., Hidding, B., McKenna, P., Noble, A., Sheng, Z., Vieux, G., Welsh, G. H. & Wiggins, M.
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/04/16 → 31/03/21
Project: Research
-
Laserlab-Europe IV (H2020 INFRA IA)
Jaroszynski, D., Hidding, B., McKenna, P. & Sheng, Z.
European Commission - Horizon 2020
1/12/15 → 30/11/19
Project: Research