Program Information
Magnetically Optimized Very High Energy Electron Therapy
D Bartkoski1*, M Salehpour1 , T Buchholz1 , D Alezra2 , (1) The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, (2) Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-gan, Israel
Presentations
TH-CD-708-4 (Thursday, August 3, 2017) 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Room: 708
Purpose: Modern developments in particle accelerator technology have opened the possibility for innovative approaches to external beam radiation therapies, particularly in area of electron therapy. The shallow penetration depths of current electron treatments may be expanded to include the full range of clinical depths >50 cm with the use of very high energy electrons in the range of 100-250 MeV. By magnetically coupling to the electron charge in the immediate vicinity of the target, novel methods for dose deposition may be explored. The work presented will outline the development of a delivery system to produce magnetically optimized very high energy electron therapy (MOVHEET).
Methods: This method uses an array of magnets to dynamically modify the electron beam. Two different approaches have been explored. The first uses a configuration of solenoidal magnets to produce a focusing field while the second utilizes strong-focusing quadrupole magnets to create symmetrical and asymmetrically focused beams. Analysis of a wide range of system parameters has been performed as well as preliminary Monte Carlo modeling of MOVHEET beams on CT data.
Results: MOVHEET beams result in dose peaks with >50% reduction in entrance dose by producing a converging beam within the target with reduced exit dose compared with photon beams. This technique modulates the dose peak depth by varying the magnet parameters which allows for variable depth dose peaks that may be used to produce spread-out regions of dose similar to spread-out Bragg peaks in proton therapy.
Conclusion: It is the goal of this work to introduce a novel modality of electron treatment with benefits similar to that of protons with significantly reduced space and cost that opens up new possibilities for external beam therapy.
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