Objective. The goal of the study was to test the hypothesis that shoot-through FLASH proton beams would lead to lower dose-averaged LET (LETD) values in critical organs, while providing at least equal normal tissue sparing as clinical proton therapy plans.Approach. For five neurological tumor patients, pencil beam scanning (PBS) shoot-through plans were made, using the maximum energy of 227 MeV and assuming a hypothetical FLASH protective factor (FPF) of 1.5. The effect of different FPF ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 on the clinical goals were also considered. LETDwas calculated for the clinical plan and the shoot-through plan, applying a 2 Gy total dose threshold (RayStation 8 A/9B and 9A-IonRPG). Robust evaluation was performed considering density uncertainty (±3% throughout entire volume).Main results.Clinical plans showed large LETDvariations compared to shoot-through plans and the maximum LETDin OAR is 1.2-8 times lower for the latter. Although less conformal, shoot-through plans met the same clinical goals as the clinical plans, for FLASH protection factors above 1.4. The FLASH shoot-through plans were more robust to density uncertainties with a maximum OAR D2%increase of 0.6 Gy versus 5.7 Gy in the clinical plans.Significance.Shoot-through proton FLASH beams avoid uncertainties in LETDdistributions and proton range, provide adequate target coverage, meet planning constraints and are robust to density variations.
Keywords: FLASH; linear energy transfer; proton therapy; relative biological effectiveness.
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