Program Information

Monte Carlo Estimation of Cerenkov Dose for Photo-Dynamic Radiotherapy

O Chibani

O Chibani¹*, A Eldib^1,2 , R Price¹ , G Mora³ , C Ma¹ , (1) Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, (2)Al-Azhar University, Cairo, (3)Universidade de Lisboa, Codex, Lisboa

Presentations

SU-E-T-238 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: Estimation of Cerenkov dose from high-energy megavoltage photon and electron beams in tissue and its impact on the radiosensitization using Protoporphyrine IX (PpIX) for tumor targeting enhancement in radiotherapy.

Methods:The GEPTS Monte Carlo code is used to generate dose distributions from 18MV Varian photon beam and generic high-energy (45-MV) photon and (45-MeV) electron beams in a voxel-based tissue-equivalent phantom. In addition to calculating the ionization dose, the code scores Cerenkov energy released in the wavelength range 375-425 nm corresponding to the pick of the PpIX absorption spectrum (Fig. 1) using the Frank-Tamm formula.

Results:The simulations shows that the produced Cerenkov dose suitable for activating PpIX is 4000 to 5500 times lower than the overall radiation dose for all considered beams (18MV, 45 MV and 45 MeV). These results were contradictory to the recent experimental studies by Axelsson et al. (Med. Phys. 38 (2011) p 4127), where Cerenkov dose was reported to be only two orders of magnitude lower than the radiation dose. Note that our simulation results can be corroborated by a simple model where the Frank and Tamm formula is applied for electrons with 2 MeV/cm stopping power generating Cerenkov photons in the 375-425 nm range and assuming these photons have less than 1mm penetration in tissue.

Conclusion:The Cerenkov dose generated by high-energy photon and electron beams may produce minimal clinical effect in comparison with the photon fluence (or dose) commonly used for photo-dynamic therapy. At the present time, it is unclear whether Cerenkov radiation is a significant contributor to the recently observed tumor regression for patients receiving radiotherapy and PpIX versus patients receiving radiotherapy only. The ongoing study will include animal experimentation and investigation of dose rate effects on PpIX response.


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