External beam therapy using very high energy electrons generated by laser-plasma wake-field accelerators

使用外部束的放射治疗是癌症治疗中最重要的方式之一。光子和电离粒子束用于治疗身体不同部位的各种癌症。设计外部射束模态需要研究射束源提供的辐射场和剂量分布。应用的辐射应最大限度地损害癌组织，保持损害健康组织到最低限度。任何形式都必须符合临床质量标准，并应符合现代医院的空间和资金限制。本文研究了激光等离子体尾流场加速器产生的高能电子束在肿瘤放射治疗中的应用。激光等离子体尾流场加速器是一种突破性的紧凑型电子束加速技术，它能提供数百MeV的能量，具有良好的束流质量和高效率。紧凑的设计和高效率是广泛安装在癌症治疗中心，甚至在较小的医院有吸引力的特点。我们建议研究该设施提供的辐射场和剂量分布。这些结果将用于放射治疗与传统方法的比较研究。早期的迹象和文献调查表明，高能电子束与常规的高能光子束相比提供了上级剂量输送特性，同时比基于质子或重离子的机器更具成本效益。激光等离子体尾场加速器产生的高度带电的超短电子束团可以产生额外的效应。

Radiotherapy using external beams is one of the most important modalities in cancer treatment. Photon and ionising particle beams are used to treat a wide variety of cancers in different parts of the body. Devising an external beam modality requires to investigate the radiation field and dose distribution delivered by the beam source. The radiation applied should maximise the damage to cancerous tissue which keeping damage to healthy tissue to a minimum. Any modality has to satisfy clinical quality standards and should match the spatial and monetary constraints of modern hospitals. We propose to investigate the application of high energy electron beams generated in a laser-plasma wake-field accelerator to the field of cancer radiotherapy. Laser-plasma wake-field accelerators are a disruptive, yet compact technology providing electron beam of several hundred MeV in energy with excellent beam qualities and high efficiency. The compact design and high efficiency are attractive features for a widespread installation in cancer therapy centres, even at smaller hospitals. We propose to study the radiation field and dose distribution delivered by this facility. These results will feed into a comparative study of radiotherapy with conventional methods. Early indications and a literature survey suggest, that high energy electron beams provide superior dose delivery characteristics compared to conventional high energy photon beams, while being more cost effective than proton- or heavy ion based machines. Additional effects can be expected from the highly charged, very short electron bunches delivered by laser-plasma wake-field accelerators.