SU-E-T-26: A Study On the Influence of Photonuclear Reactions On the Biological Effectiveness of Therapeutic High Energy X-Ray Beam

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Medical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4888356· OSTI ID:22339803

Wakita, A ^[1]; Matsufuji, N ^[1]; Kohno, T ^[1]; Kodaira, S ^[2]; Yokoyama, K; Suzuki, Y; Itami, J ^[3]

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1. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa (Japan)
2. National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba-shi, Chiba (Japan)
3. National Cancer Center Hospital, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Japan)

Purpose: Photons from a modern high-energy therapeutic linear accelerator used in X-ray radiotherapy causes photonuclear reactions in an accelerator or patient's body. The aim of this study is to evaluate the biological effectiveness including these particles by Microdosimetric Kinetic Model (MKM) based on microdosimetry. Methods: A linear accelerator operating at 15 MV was used. CR-39 was used to obtain LET spectra of secondary ions selectively, as CR-39 is regarded insensitive to photons. CR-39 was put on the central axis of the X-ray beam at depths of 0, 5 and 10 cm in plastic phantom at a source to detector distance of 100 cm. Pits formed by the traversal of ions were etched then analyzed to obtain restricted LET distribution. Frequency-mean and dose-mean lineal energy was evaluated from the relationship between the restricted LET and the lineal energy required to evaluate the biological effectiveness by MKM. The relationship was calculated by Monte Carlo simulations with GEANT4. Results: Restricted LET distributions of secondary particles showed broad distributions that decreases exponentially with increasing LET. Frequency-mean and dose-mean lineal energy were determined uniquely within the scope of the energies of secondary particles generated from photons of 15 MeV. The frequency-mean lineal energies at the depth of 0, 5 and 10 cm were 15.1, 16.0 and 19.7 keV/μm respectively, and the dose-mean lineal energies were 18.6, 20.5 and 19.6 keV/μm, respectively. RBE of secondary particles for HSG cell evaluated by MKM was about 2.0 at all depths, and RBE of all particles including photons was evaluated 1.0. Conclusion: We investigated the biological effectiveness of secondary particles by photonuclear reactions. The method to evaluate RBE by MKM was established with measurements and simulations. However, the influence of these secondary ions on RBE was found negligible in the entire biological effectiveness of the high-energy X-ray. This study has been supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25861144.

• OSTI ID: 22339803
• Journal Information: Medical Physics, Journal Name: Medical Physics Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 41; ISSN 0094-2405; ISSN MPHYA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
LET
LINEAR ACCELERATORS
MICRODOSIMETRY
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PATIENTS
PHANTOMS
PHOTONS
PHOTONUCLEAR REACTIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOTHERAPY
RBE
SPECTROSCOPY