Monte Carlo Calculations Supporting Patient Plan Verification in Proton Therapy.
Frontiers in oncology 6 (2016) 62
Abstract:
Patient's treatment plan verification covers substantial amount of the quality assurance (QA) resources; this is especially true for Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT). The use of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in supporting QA has been widely discussed, and several methods have been proposed. In this paper, we studied an alternative approach from the one being currently applied clinically at Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica (CNAO). We reanalyzed the previously published data (Molinelli et al. (1)), where 9 patient plans were investigated in which the warning QA threshold of 3% mean dose deviation was crossed. The possibility that these differences between measurement and calculated dose were related to dose modeling (Treatment Planning Systems (TPS) vs. MC), limitations on dose delivery system, or detectors mispositioning was originally explored, but other factors, such as the geometric description of the detectors, were not ruled out. For the purpose of this work, we compared ionization chambers' measurements with different MC simulation results. It was also studied that some physical effects were introduced by this new approach, for example, inter-detector interference and the delta ray thresholds. The simulations accounting for a detailed geometry typically are superior (statistical difference - p-value around 0.01) to most of the MC simulations used at CNAO (only inferior to the shift approach used). No real improvement was observed in reducing the current delta ray threshold used (100 keV), and no significant interference between ion chambers in the phantom were detected (p-value 0.81). In conclusion, it was observed that the detailed geometrical description improves the agreement between measurement and MC calculations in some cases. But in other cases, position uncertainty represents the dominant uncertainty. The inter-chamber disturbance was not detected for the therapeutic protons energies, and the results from the current delta threshold are acceptable for MC simulations in IMPT.Introduction to the EC's Marie Curie Initial Training Network Project: The European Training Network in Digital Medical Imaging for Radiotherapy (ENTERVISION).
Frontiers in oncology 5 (2015) 265
Abstract:
Between 2011 and 2015, the ENTERVISION Marie Curie Initial Training Network has been training 15 young researchers from a variety of backgrounds on topics ranging from in-beam Positron Emission Tomography or Single Particle Tomography techniques, to adaptive treatment planning, optical imaging, Monte Carlo simulations and biological phantom design. This article covers the main research activities, as well as the training scheme implemented by the participating institutes, which included academia, research, and industry.ENLIGHT and LEIR biomedical facility.
Physica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB) 30:5 (2014) 544-550
Abstract:
Particle therapy (including protons and carbon ions) allows a highly conformal treatment of deep-seated tumours with good accuracy and minimal dose to surrounding tissues, compared to conventional radiotherapy using X-rays. Following impressive results from early phase trials, over the last decades particle therapy in Europe has made considerable progress in terms of new institutes dedicated to charged particle therapy in several countries. Particle therapy is a multidisciplinary subject that involves physicists, biologists, radio-oncologists, engineers and computer scientists. The European Network for Light Ion Hadron Therapy (ENLIGHT) was created in response to the growing needs of the European community to coordinate such efforts. A number of treatment centres are already operational and treating patients across Europe, including two dual ion (protons and carbon ions) centres in Heidelberg (the pioneer in Europe) and Pavia. However, much more research needs to be carried out and beamtime is limited. Hence there is a strong interest from the biomedical research community to have a facility with greater access to relevant beamtime. Such a facility would facilitate research in radiobiology and the development of more accurate techniques of dosimetry and imaging. The Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) accelerator at CERN presents such an opportunity, and relies partly on CERN's existing infrastructure. The ENLIGHT network, European Commission projects under the ENLIGHT umbrella and the future biomedical facility are discussed.Education and training in medical imaging for conventional and particle radiation therapy through the EC funded envision and ENTERVISION
Romanian Reports in Physics 66:1 (2014) 22-29
Abstract:
A key challenge in particle therapy today is quality assurance during treatment, which needs advanced medical imaging techniques. This issue is tackled by the EC funded project ENVISION, an R&D consortium of sixteen leading European research centres and one industrial partner, co-ordinated by CERN. ENVISION covers developments in Time Of Flight in-beam PET, in-beam single particle tomography, organ motion monitoring techniques, simulation, and treatment planning. Additionally, ENVISION serves as a training platform for the ENTERVISION project, a Marie-Curie Initial Training Network aimed at educating young researchers in online 3D digital imaging for hadron therapy. ENTERVISION brings together ten academic institutes and research centres of excellence and a leading European company in particle therapy, and is coordinated by CERN. Its multi-disciplinary training programme of ENTERVISION includes a diversified portfolio of scientific courses, complemented by specific courses aimed at developing soft skills. The ENTERVISION researchers will also benefit from the involvement in the research activity of ENVISION, and in the European Network for Light Ion Hadron Therapy (ENLIGHT). The trainees are encouraged to build a multidisciplinary network which will not only help them with their future careers but ultimately improve the transfer of knowledge and collaboration between the various disciplines of cancer treatment.A Monte Carlo-based treatment-planning tool for ion beam therapy.
Journal of radiation research 54 Suppl 1 (2013) i77-i81