Dependence of simulated positron emitter yields in ion beam cancer therapy on modeling nuclear fragmentation

Armin Lühr; Marlen Priegnitz; Fine Fiedler; Nikolai Sobolevsky; Niels Bassler

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2012.12.018

Dependence of simulated positron emitter yields in ion beam cancer therapy on modeling nuclear fragmentation

Appl Radiat Isot. 2014 Jan:83 Pt B:165-70. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2012.12.018. Epub 2013 Jan 3.

Authors

Armin Lühr¹, Marlen Priegnitz, Fine Fiedler, Nikolai Sobolevsky, Niels Bassler

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; OncoRay-National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: luehr@phys.au.dk.

PMID: 23352823
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2012.12.018

Abstract

In ion beam cancer therapy, range verification in patients using positron emission tomography (PET) requires the comparison of measured with simulated positron emitter yields. We found that (1) changes in modeling nuclear interactions strongly affected the positron emitter yields and that (2) Monte Carlo simulations with SHIELD-HIT10Areasonably matched the most abundant PET isotopes (11)C and (15)O. We observed an ion-energy (i.e., depth) dependence of the agreement between SHIELD-HIT10Aand measurement. Improved modeling requires more accurate measurements of cross-section values.

Keywords: Ion beam cancer therapy; Monte Carlo simulation; Nuclear fragmentation; PET nuclides; SHIELD-HIT10A.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Electrons*
Humans
Monte Carlo Method
Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
Positron-Emission Tomography