Investigation of single carbon ion fragmentation in water and PMMA for hadron therapy.

Carbon ion radiotherapy is an attractive alternative to conventional radiotherapy, especially in case of deep-seated and radio-resistant tumors. As a consequence of inelastic nuclear reactions between primary particles and patient's tissues, the primary carbon ions may undergo nuclear fragmentation. The resulting decrease of primary ions and production of secondary fragments have to be carefully considered for accurate dose calculations in the treatment planning systems.

Proof of principle of helium-beam radiography using silicon pixel detectors for energy deposition measurement, identification, and tracking of single ions.

Purpose: Hadron therapy has the capability to provide a high dose conformation to tumor regions. However, it requires an accurate target positioning. Thus, the precise monitoring of the patient's anatomical positioning during treatment is desirable.

A novel method for assessment of fragmentation and beam-material interactions in helium ion radiotherapy with a miniaturized setup.

Radiotherapy with protons and carbon ions enables to deliver dose distributions of high conformation to the target. Treatment with helium ions has been suggested due to their physical and biological advantages. A reliable benchmarking of the employed physics models with experimental data is required for treatment planning.

Investigation of mixed ion fields in the forward direction for 220.5 MeV/u helium ion beams: comparison between water and PMMA targets.

Currently there is a rising interest in helium ion beams for radiotherapy. For benchmarking of the physical beam models used in treatment planning, there is a need for experimental data on the composition and spatial distribution of mixed ion fields. Of particular interest are the attenuation of the primary helium ion fluence and the build-up of secondary hydrogen ions due to nuclear interactions.

A Novel Method for Fragmentation Studies in Particle Therapy: Principles of Ion Identification.

Purpose: In carbon ion beam radiation therapy, fragmentation processes within the patient lead to changes in the composition of the particle field with increasing depth. Consequences are alterations of the resulting dose distribution and its biological effectiveness. To enable accurate treatment planning, the characteristics of the ion spectra resulting from fragmentation processes need to be known for various ion energies and target materials.