17.01.2019; Vortrag
Andrea Gutierrez: Detection of secondary particles created during proton beam therapy for treatment verification and dosimetry purposes
01069 Dresden
Proton therapy has considerable clinical benefits over photon therapy - it enables more localised deposition of the dose and better sparing of surrounding healthy tissue and critical organs from radiation. The full potential of proton therapy is currently limited by uncertainties associated with the patient setup, dose calculation, organ motion and anatomical variations.
Both prompt gamma rays and neutrons are generated during proton therapy. Prompt gamma rays provide information on the proton range, while the neutron field presents a potential problem, not only as an unwanted dose in the patient, but also as a background signal and a cause of radiation damage to the prompt gamma detector.
In this talk, I will present the status on secondary particle detection during proton therapy, experimental measurements, and how we can optimise the positioning of prompt gamma detectors to reduce radiation damage from the neutron field generated during proton therapy.