An exploratory study of shielding strategies for boron neutron capture discrimination in B Neutron Capture Enhanced Particle Therapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a range of shielding strategies on the rate of false positive detections by a simulated detector for application in Neutron Capture Enhanced Particle Therapy (NCEPT).

Methods: In this work, we extend a previously published method for neutron capture detection and discrimination. A Geant4 Monte Carlo model was designed, with the simulated irradiation of a poly(methyl methacrylate) phantom and cubic B insert with carbon and helium ion beams and various shielding configurations.

Validation of Light-Ion Quantum Molecular Dynamics (LIQMD) model for hadron therapy.

Purpose: This study aims to validate the Light-Ion Quantum Molecular Dynamics (LIQMD) model, an advanced version of the QMD model for more accurate simulations in hadron therapy, incorporated into Geant4 (release 11.2).

Methods: Two sets of experiments are employed.

Neutron Capture Enhances Dose and Reduces Cancer Cell Viability in and out of Beam During Helium and Carbon Ion Therapy.

Purpose: Neutron capture enhanced particle therapy (NCEPT) is a proposed augmentation of charged particle therapy that exploits thermal neutrons generated internally, within the treatment volume via nuclear fragmentation, to deliver a biochemically targeted radiation dose to cancer cells. This work is the first experimental demonstration of NCEPT, performed using both carbon and helium ion beams with 2 different targeted neutron capture agents (NCAs).

Methods And Materials: Human glioblastoma cells (T98G) were irradiated by carbon and helium ion beams in the presence of NCAs [B]-BPA and [Gd]-DOTA-TPP.

First experimental demonstration of real-time neutron capture discrimination in helium and carbon ion therapy.

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.

A Monte Carlo model of the Dingo thermal neutron imaging beamline.

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.

An inception network for positron emission tomography based dose estimation in carbon ion therapy.

. 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 ofC ion spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) profiles, and demonstrated with an experimental PET image.

Detection and discrimination of neutron capture events for NCEPT dose quantification.

Neutron Capture Enhanced Particle Therapy (NCEPT) boosts the effectiveness of particle therapy by capturing thermal neutrons produced by beam-target nuclear interactions in and around the treatment site, using tumour-specific [Formula: see text]B or [Formula: see text]Gd-based neutron capture agents. Neutron captures release high-LET secondary particles together with gamma photons with energies of 478 keV or one of several energies up to 7.94 MeV, for [Formula: see text]B and [Formula: see text]Gd, respectively.

A validated Geant4 model of a whole-body PET scanner with four-layer DOI detectors.

The purpose of this work is to develop a validated Geant4 simulation model of a whole-body prototype PET scanner constructed from the four-layer depth-of-interaction detectors developed at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan. The simulation model emulates the behaviour of the unique depth of interaction sensing capability of the scanner without needing to directly simulate optical photon transport in the scintillator and photodetector modules. The model was validated by evaluating and comparing performance metrics from the NEMA NU 2-2012 protocol on both the simulated and physical scanner, including spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction, noise equivalent count rates and image quality.

Dose quantification in carbon ion therapy using in-beam positron emission tomography.

This work presents an iterative method for the estimation of the absolute dose distribution in patients undergoing carbon ion therapy, via analysis of the distribution of positron annihilations resulting from the decay of positron-emitting fragments created in the target volume. The proposed method relies on the decomposition of the total positron-annihilation distributions into profiles of the three principal positron-emitting fragment species - C, C and O. A library of basis functions is constructed by simulating a range of monoenergetic C ion irradiations of a homogeneous polymethyl methacrylate phantom and measuring the resulting one-dimensional positron-emitting fragment profiles and dose distributions.

Experimental investigation of the characteristics of radioactive beams for heavy ion therapy.

Purpose: This work has two related objectives. The first is to estimate the relative biological effectiveness of two radioactive heavy ion beams based on experimental measurements, and compare these to the relative biological effectiveness of corresponding stable isotopes to determine whether they are therapeutically equivalent. The second aim is to quantitatively compare the quality of images acquired postirradiation using an in-beam whole-body positron emission tomography scanner for range verification quality assurance.

Optimisation of monolithic nanocomposite and transparent ceramic scintillation detectors for positron emission tomography.

High-resolution arrays of discrete monocrystalline scintillators used for gamma photon coincidence detection in PET are costly and complex to fabricate, and exhibit intrinsically non-uniform sensitivity with respect to emission angle. Nanocomposites and transparent ceramics are two alternative classes of scintillator materials which can be formed into large monolithic structures, and which, when coupled to optical photodetector arrays, may offer a pathway to low cost, high-sensitivity, high-resolution PET. However, due to their high optical attenuation and scattering relative to monocrystalline scintillators, these materials exhibit an inherent trade-off between detection sensitivity and the number of scintillation photons which reach the optical photodetectors.

Localisation of the Lines of Response in a Continuous Cylindrical Shell PET Scanner.

This work presents a technique for localising the endpoints of the lines of response in a PET scanner based on a continuous cylindrical shell scintillator. The technique is demonstrated by applying it to a simulation of a sensitivity-optimised continuous cylindrical shell PET system using two novel scintillator materials - a transparent ceramic garnet, GLuGAG:Ce, and a LuF:Ce-polystyrene nanocomposite. Error distributions for the endpoints of the lines of response in the axial, tangential and radial dimension as well as overall endpoint spatial error are calculated for three source positions; the resultant distribution of error in the placement of the lines of response is also estimated.

Comparative study of alternative Geant4 hadronic ion inelastic physics models for prediction of positron-emitting radionuclide production in carbon and oxygen ion therapy.

The distribution of fragmentation products predicted by Monte Carlo simulations of heavy ion therapy depend on the hadronic physics model chosen in the simulation. This work aims to evaluate three alternative hadronic inelastic fragmentation physics options available in the Geant4 Monte Carlo radiation physics simulation framework to determine which model most accurately predicts the production of positron-emitting fragmentation products observable using in-beam PET imaging. Fragment distributions obtained with the BIC, QMD, and INCL + + physics models in Geant4 version 10.

Monte Carlo investigation of the characteristics of radioactive beams for heavy ion therapy.

This work presents a simulation study evaluating relative biological effectiveness at 10% survival fraction (RBE10) of several different positron-emitting radionuclides in heavy ion treatment systems, and comparing these to the RBE10s of their non-radioactive counterparts. RBE10 is evaluated as a function of depth for three positron-emitting radioactive ion beams (C, C and O) and two stable ion beams (C and O) using the modified microdosimetric kinetic model (MKM) in a heterogeneous skull phantom subject to a rectangular 50 mm × 50 mm × 60 mm spread out Bragg peak. We demonstrate that the RBE10 of the positron-emitting radioactive beams is almost identical to the corresponding stable isotopes.

Performance evaluation of a whole-body prototype PET scanner with four-layer DOI detectors.

Parallax error caused by the detector crystal thickness degrades spatial resolution at the peripheral regions of the field-of-view (FOV) of a scanner. To resolve this issue, depth-of-interaction (DOI) measurement is a promising solution to improve the spatial resolution and its uniformity over the entire FOV. Even though DOI detectors have been used in dedicated systems with a small ring diameter such as for the human brain, breast and small animals, the use of DOI detectors for a large bore whole-body PET system has not been demonstrated yet.

Opportunistic dose amplification for proton and carbon ion therapy via capture of internally generated thermal neutrons.

This paper presents Neutron Capture Enhanced Particle Therapy (NCEPT), a method for enhancing the radiation dose delivered to a tumour relative to surrounding healthy tissues during proton and carbon ion therapy by capturing thermal neutrons produced inside the treatment volume during irradiation. NCEPT utilises extant and in-development boron-10 and gadolinium-157-based drugs from the related field of neutron capture therapy. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that a typical proton or carbon ion therapy treatment plan generates an approximately uniform thermal neutron field within the target volume, centred around the beam path.

A simulation study of BrachyShade, a shadow-based internal source tracking system for HDR prostate brachytherapy.

This paper presents a simulation study of BrachyShade, a proposed internal source-tracking system for real time quality assurance in high dose rate prostate brachytherapy. BrachyShade consists of a set of spherical tungsten occluders located above a pixellated silicon photodetector. The source location is estimated by minimising the mean squared error between a parametric model of the shadow image and acquired images of the shadows projected on the detector plane.

Microdosing, isotopic labeling, radiotracers and metabolomics: relevance in drug discovery, development and safety.

This review discusses the use of stable (C, D) or radioactive isotopes (C, C, F, I, Cu, Ga) incorporated into the molecular structure of new drug entities for the purpose of pharmacokinetic or -dynamic studies. Metabolite in safety testing requires the administration of pharmacologically active doses. In such studies, radiotracers find application mainly in preclinical animal investigations, whereby LC-MS/MS is used to identify metabolite structure and drug-related effects.

Semiconductor real-time quality assurance dosimetry in brachytherapy.

With the increase in complexity of brachytherapy treatments, there has been a demand for the development of sophisticated devices for delivery verification. The Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), University of Wollongong, has demonstrated the applicability of semiconductor devices to provide cost-effective real-time quality assurance for a wide range of brachytherapy treatment modalities. Semiconductor devices have shown great promise to the future of pretreatment and in vivo quality assurance in a wide range of brachytherapy treatments, from high-dose-rate (HDR) prostate procedures to eye plaque treatments.