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Kielly M, Caracciolo A, Chacon A, Vohradsky J, Di Vita D, Hamato A, Tashima H, Franklin DR, Yamaya T, Rosenfeld A, Carminati M, Fiorini C, Guatelli S, Safavi-Naeini M. First experimental demonstration of real-time neutron capture discrimination in helium and carbon ion therapy. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2601. [PMID: 38297114 PMCID: PMC10831067 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52162-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
This work provides the first experimental proof of an increased neutron capture photon signal following the introduction of boron to a PMMA phantom during helium and carbon ion therapies in Neutron Capture Enhanced Particle Therapy (NCEPT). NCEPT leverages [Formula: see text]B neutron capture, leading to the emission of detectable 478 keV photons. Experiments were performed at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba, Japan, with two Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) targets, one bearing a boron insert. The BeNEdiCTE gamma-ray detector measured an increase in the 478 keV signal of 45 ± 7% and 26 ± 2% for carbon and helium ion irradiation, respectively. Our Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation model, developed to investigate photon origins, found less than 30% of detected photons originated from the insert, while boron in the detector's circuit boards contributed over 65%. Further, the model investigated detector sensitivity, establishing its capability to record a 10% increase in 478 keV photon detection at a target [Formula: see text]B concentration of 500 ppm using spectral windowing alone, and 25% when combined with temporal windowing. The linear response extended to concentrations up to 20,000 ppm. The increase in the signal in all evaluated cases confirm the potential of the proposed detector design for neutron capture quantification in NCEPT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa Kielly
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, Australia
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Anita Caracciolo
- Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrew Chacon
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, Australia
| | - James Vohradsky
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Davide Di Vita
- Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Akram Hamato
- Imaging Physics Group, Department of Advanced Nuclear Medicine Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan
| | - Hideaki Tashima
- Imaging Physics Group, Department of Advanced Nuclear Medicine Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan
| | - Daniel R Franklin
- School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Taiga Yamaya
- Imaging Physics Group, Department of Advanced Nuclear Medicine Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan
| | - Anatoly Rosenfeld
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Marco Carminati
- Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Carlo Fiorini
- Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Susanna Guatelli
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Mitra Safavi-Naeini
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, Australia.
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Jakubowski K, Chacon A, Tran LT, Stopic A, Garbe U, Bevitt J, Olsen S, Franklin DR, Rosenfeld A, Guatelli S, Safavi-Naeini M. A Monte Carlo model of the Dingo thermal neutron imaging beamline. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17415. [PMID: 37833371 PMCID: PMC10575880 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44035-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we present a validated Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation model of the Dingo thermal neutron imaging beamline at the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering. The model, constructed using CAD drawings of the entire beam transport path and shielding structures, is designed to precisely predict the in-beam neutron field at the position at the sample irradiation stage. The model's performance was assessed by comparing simulation results to various experimental measurements, including planar thermal neutron distribution obtained in-beam using gold foil activation and [Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text]C-coated microdosimeters and the out-of-beam neutron spectra measured with Bonner spheres. The simulation results demonstrated that the predicted neutron fluence at the field's centre is within 8.1% and 2.1% of the gold foil and [Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text]C-coated microdosimeter measurements, respectively. The logarithms of the ratios of average simulated to experimental fluences in the thermal (E[Formula: see text] 0.414 eV), epithermal (0.414 eV < E[Formula: see text] 11.7 keV) and fast (E[Formula: see text] 11.7 keV) spectral regions were approximately - 0.03 to + 0.1, - 0.2 to + 0.15, and - 0.4 to + 0.2, respectively. Furthermore, the predicted thermal, epithermal and fast neutron components in-beam at the sample stage position constituted approximately 18%, 64% and 18% of the total neutron fluence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaudiusz Jakubowski
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Andrew Chacon
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Linh T Tran
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Attila Stopic
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Ulf Garbe
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Joseph Bevitt
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Scott Olsen
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
| | - Daniel R Franklin
- School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
| | - Anatoly Rosenfeld
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Susanna Guatelli
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
| | - Mitra Safavi-Naeini
- Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia.
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Rutherford H, Saha Turai R, Chacon A, Franklin DR, Mohammadi A, Tashima H, Yamaya T, Parodi K, Rosenfeld AB, Guatelli S, Safavi-Naeini M. An inception network for positron emission tomography based dose estimation in carbon ion therapy. Phys Med Biol 2022; 67. [DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac88b2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Objective. We aim to evaluate a method for estimating 1D physical dose deposition profiles in carbon ion therapy via analysis of dynamic PET images using a deep residual learning convolutional neural network (CNN). The method is validated using Monte Carlo simulations of 12C ion spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) profiles, and demonstrated with an experimental PET image. Approach. A set of dose deposition and positron annihilation profiles for monoenergetic 12C ion pencil beams in PMMA are first generated using Monte Carlo simulations. From these, a set of random polyenergetic dose and positron annihilation profiles are synthesised and used to train the CNN. Performance is evaluated by generating a second set of simulated 12C ion SOBP profiles (one 116 mm SOBP profile and ten 60 mm SOBP profiles), and using the trained neural network to estimate the dose profile deposited by each beam and the position of the distal edge of the SOBP. Next, the same methods are used to evaluate the network using an experimental PET image, obtained after irradiating a PMMA phantom with a 12C ion beam at QST’s Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba facility in Chiba, Japan. The performance of the CNN is compared to that of a recently published iterative technique using the same simulated and experimental 12C SOBP profiles. Main results. The CNN estimated the simulated dose profiles with a mean relative error (MRE) of 0.7% ± 1.0% and the distal edge position with an accuracy of 0.1 mm ± 0.2 mm, and estimate the dose delivered by the experimental 12C ion beam with a MRE of 3.7%, and the distal edge with an accuracy of 1.7 mm. Significance. The CNN was able to produce estimates of the dose distribution with comparable or improved accuracy and computational efficiency compared to the iterative method and other similar PET-based direct dose quantification techniques.
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Onecha VV, Galve P, Ibáñez P, Freijo C, Arias-Valcayo F, Sanchez-Parcerisa D, España S, Fraile LM, Udías JM. Dictionary-based software for proton dose reconstruction and submilimetric range verification. Phys Med Biol 2022; 67. [DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac4efc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Objective. This paper presents a new method for fast reconstruction (compatible with in-beam use) of deposited dose during proton therapy using data acquired from a PET scanner. The most innovative feature of this novel method is the production of noiseless reconstructed dose distributions from which proton range can be derived with high precision. Approach. A new MLEM & simulated annealing (MSA) algorithm, developed especially in this work, reconstructs the deposited dose distribution from a realistic pre-calculated activity-dose dictionary. This dictionary contains the contribution of each beam in the plan to the 3D activity and dose maps, as calculated by a Monte Carlo simulation. The MSA algorithm, using a priori information of the treatment plan, seeks for the linear combination of activities of the precomputed beams that best fits the observed PET data, obtaining at the same time the deposited dose. Main results. the method has been tested using simulated data to determine its performance under 4 different test cases: (1) dependency of range detection accuracy with delivered dose, (2) in-beam versus offline verification, (3) ability to detect anatomical changes and (4) reconstruction of a realistic spread-out Bragg peak. The results show the ability of the method to accurately reconstruct doses from PET data corresponding to 1 Gy irradiations, both in intra-fraction and inter-fraction verification scenarios. For this dose level (1 Gy) the method was able to spot range variations as small as 0.6 mm. Significance. out method is able to reconstruct dose maps with remarkable accuracy from clinically relevant dose levels down to 1 Gy. Furthermore, due to the noiseless nature of reconstructed dose maps, an accuracy better than one millimeter was obtained in proton range estimates. These features make of this method a realistic option for range verification in proton therapy.
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Félix-Bautista R, Ghesquière-Diérickx L, Marek L, Granja C, Soukup P, Turecek D, Kelleter L, Brons S, Ellerbrock M, Jäkel O, Gehrke T, Martišíková M. Quality assurance method for monitoring of lateral pencil beam positions in scanned carbon-ion radiotherapy using tracking of secondary ions. Med Phys 2021; 48:4411-4424. [PMID: 34061994 DOI: 10.1002/mp.15018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Ion beam radiotherapy offers enhances dose conformity to the tumor volume while better sparing healthy tissue compared to conventional photon radiotherapy. However, the increased dose gradient also makes it more sensitive to uncertainties. While the most important uncertainty source is the patient itself, the beam delivery is also subject to uncertainties. Most of the proton therapy centers used cyclotrons, which deliver typically a stable beam over time, allowing a continuous extraction of the beam. Carbon-ion beam radiotherapy (CIRT) in contrast uses synchrotrons and requires a larger and energy-dependent extrapolation of the nozzle-measured positions to obtain the lateral beam positions in the isocenter, since the nozzle-to-isocenter distance is larger than for cyclotrons. Hence, the control of lateral pencil beam positions at isocenter in CIRT is more sensitive to uncertainties than in proton radiotherapy. Therefore, an independent monitoring of the actual lateral positions close to the isocenter would be very valuable and provide additional information. However, techniques capable to do so are scarce, and they are limited in precision, accuracy and effectivity. METHODS The detection of secondary ions (charged nuclear fragments) has previously been exploited for the Bragg peak position of C-ion beams. In our previous work, we investigated for the first time the feasibility of lateral position monitoring of pencil beams in CIRT. However, the reported precision and accuracy were not sufficient for a potential implementation into clinical practice. In this work, it is shown how the performance of the method is improved to the point of clinical relevance. To minimize the observed uncertainties, a mini-tracker based on hybrid silicon pixel detectors was repositioned downstream of an anthropomorphic head phantom. However, the secondary-ion fluence rate in the mini-tracker rises up to 1.5 × 105 ions/s/cm2 , causing strong pile-up of secondary-ion signals. To solve this problem, we performed hardware changes, optimized the detector settings, adjusted the setup geometry and developed new algorithms to resolve ambiguities in the track reconstruction. The performance of the method was studied on two treatment plans delivered with a realistic dose of 3 Gy (RBE) and averaged dose rate of 0.27 Gy/s at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT) in Germany. The measured lateral positions were compared to reference beam positions obtained either from the beam nozzle or from a multi-wire proportional chamber positioned at the room isocenter. RESULTS The presented method is capable to simultaneously monitor both lateral pencil beam coordinates over the entire tumor volume during the treatment delivery, using only a 2-cm2 mini-tracker. The effectivity (defined as the fraction of analyzed pencil beams) was 100%. The reached precision of (0.6 to 1.5) mm and accuracy of (0.5 to 1.2) mm are in line with the clinically accepted uncertainty for QA measurements of the lateral pencil beam positions. CONCLUSIONS It was demonstrated that the performance of the method for a non-invasive lateral position monitoring of pencil beams is sufficient for a potential clinical implementation. The next step is to evaluate the method clinically in a group of patients in a future observational clinical study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renato Félix-Bautista
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Laura Ghesquière-Diérickx
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Lukáš Marek
- Department of Research and Development, ADVACAM s.r.o., Prague, 17000, Czech Republic
| | - Carlos Granja
- Department of Research and Development, ADVACAM s.r.o., Prague, 17000, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Soukup
- Department of Research and Development, ADVACAM s.r.o., Prague, 17000, Czech Republic
| | - Daniel Turecek
- Department of Research and Development, ADVACAM s.r.o., Prague, 17000, Czech Republic
| | - Laurent Kelleter
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Stephan Brons
- Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Malte Ellerbrock
- Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Oliver Jäkel
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Tim Gehrke
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Department of Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Mária Martišíková
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), National Center for Research in Radiation Oncology (NCRO), Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
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