Speaker
Description
Heavy ion particle therapy is a rapidly growing and potentially the most effective and precise radiotherapy technique. However, the sharp dose gradients in the distal ends make it extremely sensitive to range uncertainties. In clinical practice, wide margins extending into normal tissue are commonly used to ensure tumor coverage, thereby jeopardizing the benefits of the sharp Bragg peak. Online range verification techniques could potentially help to overcome this limitation.
PET (positron emission tomography) is one of the most established methods to verify the beam range. However, for $^{12}$C-ion therapy, the low signal-to-noise ratio, the physical shift in the β$^{+}$ activity and dose peak, and the long required acquisition times limit the PET-based range verification accuracy to approximately 2–5 mm.
The direct use of β$^{+}$ radioactive ion beams (RIB) for both treatment and imaging could help overcome these limitations.
In this context, the BARB (Biomedical Applications of Radioactive Ion Beams) project was initiated at GSI, aiming to assess the efficacy of $^{11}$C-ion combined with real-time PET imaging, for precise tumor control and toxicity minimization in a preclinical model.
Besides introducing the potential of RIB in clinical applications, the results from the vast experimental campaign, including research ranging from basic nuclear physics and PET detectors developments to animal treatments, will be here presented.
| Funding Agency | ERC |
|---|---|
| Classification | Applications of radioactive ion beams |
