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

Andrew Chacon; Mitra Safavi-Naeini; David Bolst; Susanna Guatelli; Daniel R Franklin; Yuma Iwao; Go Akamatsu; Hideaki Tashima; Eiji Yoshida; Fumihiko Nishikido; Atsushi Kitagawa; Akram Mohammadi; Marie-Claude Gregoire; Taiga Yamaya; Anatoly B Rosenfeld

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-43073-1

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

Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 25;9(1):6537. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43073-1.

Authors

Andrew Chacon^{1

2}, Mitra Safavi-Naeini^{3

4

5

6}, David Bolst¹, Susanna Guatelli^{1

7}, Daniel R Franklin⁸, Yuma Iwao⁹, Go Akamatsu⁹, Hideaki Tashima⁹, Eiji Yoshida⁹, Fumihiko Nishikido⁹, Atsushi Kitagawa⁹, Akram Mohammadi⁹, Marie-Claude Gregoire^{1

2

10}, Taiga Yamaya⁹, Anatoly B Rosenfeld^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
² Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia.
³ Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia. mitras@ansto.gov.au.
⁴ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia. mitras@ansto.gov.au.
⁵ Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. mitras@ansto.gov.au.
⁶ Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia. mitras@ansto.gov.au.
⁷ Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
⁸ Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia.
⁹ National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan.
¹⁰ Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

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 (¹⁰C, ¹¹C and ¹⁵O) and two stable ion beams (¹²C and ¹⁶O) 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. The potential improvement in PET quality assurance image quality which is obtained when using radioactive beams is evaluated by comparing the signal to background ratios of positron annihilations at different intra- and post-irradiation time points. Finally, the incidental dose to the patient resulting from the use of radioactive beams is also quantified and shown to be negligible.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Computer Simulation
Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
Electrons
Heavy Ion Radiotherapy*
Humans
Monte Carlo Method*
Phantoms, Imaging
Radioactivity*
Radiotherapy Dosage
Relative Biological Effectiveness