An Efficient Method for Heavy Ion Dose Calculations
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Heavy charged particles deposit much of their kinetic energy at very high rates in small volumes near the end of their range. This characteristic, coupled with the availability of modern particle accelerators, has sparked a revival of interest in the use of ions as a possible treatment tool for certain types of cancers. Collisions between projectile ions and atoms in the target medium can result in ion fragments that are different from the original projectile species. The energy deposition characteristics of these fragments differ from those of the projectile in a manner that allows them to travel beyond the range of the original particle. This can result in deposition of doses in healthy tissue beyond the tumor. The loss of projectiles due to the fragmentation process will also affect the dose deposited in the target tumor. An accurate dose calculation requires that these effects be taken into account. Monte Carlo calculations are expensive, time consuming, and can be limited in the number of ion species considered. Linear methods can yield high-order accuracy but can sometimes exhibit the undesirable characteristic of calculating negative fluxes. In order to bypass these difficulties, we have applied the recently developed exponential discontinuous (ED) finite- element method to a calculation of dose deposition by relativistic heavy ion projectiles and fragments. The ED method has been shown to yield strictly -- positive solutions for positive sources of neutral particles.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Management and Administration, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE Office of Financial Management and Controller, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 629320
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--97-1484C; CONF-971125--; ON: DE97006882
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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