SU-F-T-147: An Alternative Parameterization of Scatter Behavior Allows Significant Reduction of Beam Characterization for Pencil Beam Proton Therapy
- University of Oxford, Oxford (United Kingdom)
Purpose: 1) To describe the characteristics of pencil beam proton dose deposition kernels in a homogenous medium using a novel parameterization. 2) To propose a method utilizing this novel parametrization to reduce the measurements and pre-computation required in commissioning a pencil beam proton therapy system. Methods: Using beam data from a clinical, pencil beam proton therapy center, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to characterize the dose depositions at a range of energies from 100.32 to 226.08 MeV in 3.6MeV steps. At each energy, the beam is defined at the surface of the phantom by a two-dimensional Normal distribution. Using FLUKA, the in-medium dose distribution is calculated in 200×200×350 mm cube with 1 mm{sup 3} tally volumes. The calculated dose distribution in each 200×200 slice perpendicular to the beam axis is then characterized using a symmetric alpha-stable distribution centered on the beam axis. This results in two parameters, α and γ, that completely describe shape of the distribution. In addition, the total dose deposited on each slice is calculated. The alpha-stable parameters are plotted as function of the depth in-medium, providing a representation of dose deposition along the pencil beam. We observed that these graphs are isometric through a scaling of both abscissa and ordinate map the curves. Results: Using interpolation of the scaling factors of two source curves representative of different beam energies, we predicted the parameters of a third curve at an intermediate energy. The errors are quantified by the maximal difference and provide a fit better than previous methods. The maximal energy difference between the source curves generating identical curves was 21.14MeV. Conclusion: We have introduced a novel method to parameterize the in-phantom properties of pencil beam proton dose depositions. For the case of the Knoxville IBA system, no more than nine pencil beams have to be fully characterized.
- OSTI ID:
- 22642388
- Journal Information:
- Medical Physics, Journal Name: Medical Physics Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 43; ISSN 0094-2405; ISSN MPHYA6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
SU-D-BRC-01: An Automatic Beam Model Commissioning Method for Monte Carlo Simulations in Pencil-Beam Scanning Proton Therapy
Scanned Carbon Pencil Beams for Tumor Therapy