Schnürle, Katrin Beatrix: Integration mode proton imaging with a CMOS detector for a small animal irradiation platform. , Dissertation, München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2024
10.5282/edoc.33903
Open Access Version
Abstract:
Proton beam therapy is a promising modality in cancer treatment due to its ability to deliver highly conformal radiation doses to the tumor while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. This precision offers the potential for superior treatment outcomes compared to conventional photon radiation therapy. Proton Radiography (pRAD) and Proton Computed Tomography (pCT) promise to reduce uncertainty in proton therapy treatment planning inherent in the conversion of X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) numbers, expressed in Hounsfield Units (HU), to proton (relative to water) stopping power (RSP). Despite the increasing adoption of proton therapy in clinical practice, there is still a lack of pre-clinical precision small animal radiotherapy research, e.g., to enable a better understanding of the radiobiological effects of proton beams in tumour and normal tissue. Elucidating these effects is critical to the testing of new therapeutic approaches and to ensure optimal patient outcomes. Advanced small animal research platforms are commercially available for photon therapy, but there are no commercial options yet for proton therapy. Image guidance and precise irradiation are of utmost importance for meaningful small animal oncology research. The Small Animal Proton Irradiator for Research in Molecular Image-guided Radiation-Oncology (SIRMIO) platform is developed at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich under the direction of principal investigator Prof. Dr. Katia Parodi with funding by the European Research Council (ERC) (grant agreement number 725539). It is a portable prototype system for image-guided small animal proton irradiation for precision pre-clinical radiation therapy research. Proton imaging is integrated into the SIRMIO platform in order to achieve an accurate setup of the small animal and accurate treatment planning. To enable proton imaging with the high instantaneous beam flux of the synchrocyclotron-based proton therapy centers, the development and implementation of integration mode imaging has been pursued. This work investigates integration mode imaging with a Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) detector system and variation of the initial proton beam energy. In experimental campaigns, imaging of small animal-sized objects was investigated at isochronous cyclotron-based facilities and a proof-of-concept experiment was performed at a clinical synchrocyclotron proton therapy center. For this purpose, two detector ...