Experimental study on the feasibility of in-beam PET for accurate monitoring of proton therapy

Katia Parodi; Falk Pönisch; Wolfgang Enghardt

doi:10.1109/TNS.2005.850950

Experimental study on the feasibility of in-beam PET for accurate monitoring of proton therapy

Katia Parodi, Falk Pönisch, Wolfgang Enghardt

Radiation Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

114 Scopus citations

Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET) is currently the only feasible method for in-situ and noninvasive three-dimensional monitoring of the precision of the treatment in highly conformal ion therapy. Its positive clinical impact has been proven for fractionated carbon ion therapy of head and neck (H&N) tumors at the experimental facility at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany. Following previous promising experiments, the possible extension of the method to the monitoring of proton therapy has been investigated further in extensive in-beam measurements at GSI. Millimeter accuracy for verification of the lateral field position and for the most challenging issue of range monitoring has been demonstrated in monoenergetic and spread-out Bragg-peak (SOBP) proton irradiation of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) targets. The irradiation of an inhomogeneous phantom with tissue equivalent inserts in combination with further dynamic analysis has supported the extension of such millimeter precision to real clinical cases, at least in regions of interest for low perfused tissues. All the experimental investigations have been reproduced by the developed modeling rather well. This indicates the possible extraction of valuable clinical information as particle range in-vivo. irradiation field position, and even local deviations from the dose prescription on the basis of the comparison between measured and predicted activity distributions. Hence, the clinical feasibility of in-beam PET for proton therapy monitoring is strongly supported.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	778-786
Number of pages	9
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Volume	52
Issue number	3 II
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2005.850950
State	Published - Jun 2005

Keywords

PET
Proton therapy
Therapy monitoring

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.1109/TNS.2005.850950

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title = "Experimental study on the feasibility of in-beam PET for accurate monitoring of proton therapy",

abstract = "Positron emission tomography (PET) is currently the only feasible method for in-situ and noninvasive three-dimensional monitoring of the precision of the treatment in highly conformal ion therapy. Its positive clinical impact has been proven for fractionated carbon ion therapy of head and neck (H&N) tumors at the experimental facility at the Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany. Following previous promising experiments, the possible extension of the method to the monitoring of proton therapy has been investigated further in extensive in-beam measurements at GSI. Millimeter accuracy for verification of the lateral field position and for the most challenging issue of range monitoring has been demonstrated in monoenergetic and spread-out Bragg-peak (SOBP) proton irradiation of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) targets. The irradiation of an inhomogeneous phantom with tissue equivalent inserts in combination with further dynamic analysis has supported the extension of such millimeter precision to real clinical cases, at least in regions of interest for low perfused tissues. All the experimental investigations have been reproduced by the developed modeling rather well. This indicates the possible extraction of valuable clinical information as particle range in-vivo. irradiation field position, and even local deviations from the dose prescription on the basis of the comparison between measured and predicted activity distributions. Hence, the clinical feasibility of in-beam PET for proton therapy monitoring is strongly supported.",

keywords = "PET, Proton therapy, Therapy monitoring",

author = "Katia Parodi and Falk P{\"o}nisch and Wolfgang Enghardt",

note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received November 10, 2004. This work was supported by GSI Darmstadt and the European Union. K. Parodi was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. He is now with Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 USA. F. P{\"o}nisch was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. He is now with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030 USA. W. Enghardt was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2005.850950 Fig. 1. Measured -activity depth profiles (solid line) for proton (left) and carbon ion (right) irradiation of PMMA targets at 140 MeV and 259.5 AMeV initial energy, respectively. The dotted line shows the calculated relative dose distributions. Due to the lack of projectile fragments, no maximum of -activity is formed close to the dose maximum in the proton case (left) in contrast to carbon ions (right).",

year = "2005",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/TNS.2005.850950",

language = "English (US)",

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publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",

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T1 - Experimental study on the feasibility of in-beam PET for accurate monitoring of proton therapy

AU - Parodi, Katia

AU - Pönisch, Falk

AU - Enghardt, Wolfgang

N1 - Funding Information: Manuscript received November 10, 2004. This work was supported by GSI Darmstadt and the European Union. K. Parodi was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. He is now with Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 USA. F. Pönisch was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. He is now with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030 USA. W. Enghardt was with the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics, 01314 Dresden, Germany. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2005.850950 Fig. 1. Measured -activity depth profiles (solid line) for proton (left) and carbon ion (right) irradiation of PMMA targets at 140 MeV and 259.5 AMeV initial energy, respectively. The dotted line shows the calculated relative dose distributions. Due to the lack of projectile fragments, no maximum of -activity is formed close to the dose maximum in the proton case (left) in contrast to carbon ions (right).

PY - 2005/6

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N2 - Positron emission tomography (PET) is currently the only feasible method for in-situ and noninvasive three-dimensional monitoring of the precision of the treatment in highly conformal ion therapy. Its positive clinical impact has been proven for fractionated carbon ion therapy of head and neck (H&N) tumors at the experimental facility at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany. Following previous promising experiments, the possible extension of the method to the monitoring of proton therapy has been investigated further in extensive in-beam measurements at GSI. Millimeter accuracy for verification of the lateral field position and for the most challenging issue of range monitoring has been demonstrated in monoenergetic and spread-out Bragg-peak (SOBP) proton irradiation of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) targets. The irradiation of an inhomogeneous phantom with tissue equivalent inserts in combination with further dynamic analysis has supported the extension of such millimeter precision to real clinical cases, at least in regions of interest for low perfused tissues. All the experimental investigations have been reproduced by the developed modeling rather well. This indicates the possible extraction of valuable clinical information as particle range in-vivo. irradiation field position, and even local deviations from the dose prescription on the basis of the comparison between measured and predicted activity distributions. Hence, the clinical feasibility of in-beam PET for proton therapy monitoring is strongly supported.

AB - Positron emission tomography (PET) is currently the only feasible method for in-situ and noninvasive three-dimensional monitoring of the precision of the treatment in highly conformal ion therapy. Its positive clinical impact has been proven for fractionated carbon ion therapy of head and neck (H&N) tumors at the experimental facility at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany. Following previous promising experiments, the possible extension of the method to the monitoring of proton therapy has been investigated further in extensive in-beam measurements at GSI. Millimeter accuracy for verification of the lateral field position and for the most challenging issue of range monitoring has been demonstrated in monoenergetic and spread-out Bragg-peak (SOBP) proton irradiation of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) targets. The irradiation of an inhomogeneous phantom with tissue equivalent inserts in combination with further dynamic analysis has supported the extension of such millimeter precision to real clinical cases, at least in regions of interest for low perfused tissues. All the experimental investigations have been reproduced by the developed modeling rather well. This indicates the possible extraction of valuable clinical information as particle range in-vivo. irradiation field position, and even local deviations from the dose prescription on the basis of the comparison between measured and predicted activity distributions. Hence, the clinical feasibility of in-beam PET for proton therapy monitoring is strongly supported.

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Experimental study on the feasibility of in-beam PET for accurate monitoring of proton therapy

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Keywords

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