Cerenkov Tomography of 4D Radiation Therapy Plans

描述(由申请人提供)：将研究和开发一种新发现的方法，用于从切伦科夫光发射中成像辐射束剂量分布，以用于先进治疗治疗计划的实时断层成像。癌症放射治疗(RT)是当今技术最先进的医学领域之一，它利用最先进的CT、MRI和PET成像以及先进的治疗计划算法，设计从直线加速器(LINAC)向患者提供特定的辐射。尽管如此，用于表征光束精度的工具非常缓慢，到目前为止，仍然没有已知的方法来快速可视化光束。就其在RT领域的潜在影响而言，这一新发展的重要性怎么强调都不为过。目前测量水箱或组织模体中的束流剂量的程序涉及使用电离室，这种电离室是在3D水箱中进行栅格扫描的，因此，显影束流的3D图像需要24小时的大部分时间；因此，很少做到这一点。然而，束流验证是必需的，今天只有部分信息用于新的LINAC的调试过程或复杂的治疗计划的验证。这一新发现的基于介质中切伦科夫发射的射束成像过程将允许对计划中的每个射束进行瞬时2D成像和非常快的断层成像。证明这一提议潜力的初步数据已经确定，随后将有系统地开发一种实现快速成像并表征精度的直线加速器光束。在标准医学物理水箱设置中的系统测试将通过美国物理学家医学协会概述的验证研究来完成。先进的调强放射治疗(IMRT)癌症治疗计划的成像准确性将被研究，以说明计划交付的成像应该如何提高准确性。这项工作将在这一计划的基本/转化期开发完成后，在未来的资金中通过疾病具体应用进行后续工作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A newly discovered method for imaging radiation beam dose profiles from Cerenkov light emission will be studied and developed for real-time tomographic imaging of the advanced therapy treatment plans. Radiation therapy (RT) for cancer is one of the most technologically advanced areas of medicine today, utilizing state of the art CT, MRI, and PET imaging together with advanced treatment planning algorithms, to design patient specific delivery of radiation from a linear accelerator (LINAC). Despite this, the tools to characterize beams accuracy are extremely slow, and to date there is still no known way to visualize the beam in quickly. The importance of this new development cannot be overstated, in terms of its potential impact in the field of RT. Current procedures to measure beam dose in water tanks or tissue phantoms involve the use of ionization chambers, which are raster scanned in a 3D water tank, so that developing a 3D image of a beam would take the majority of a 24 hour day; therefore, it is rarely done. Yet, beam verification is required, and today only partial information is used in the commissioning process of new LINACs or in the verification of complex treatment plans. This newly discovered process of imaging the beam based upon the Cerenkov emission in the medium will allow instantaneous 2D imaging and very fast tomographic profiling of each beam planned. The preliminary data proving the potential of this proposal is already established, and will be followed up with a methodical development of a realization to image LINAC beams quickly with characterization of the accuracy. Systematic testing in standard medical physics water tank set ups will be completed with validation studies as outlined by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. The accuracy of imaging advanced Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) plans for cancer treatment will be studied to illustrate how imaging the planned delivery should improve accuracy. This work will be followed up through disease specific applications in future funding, following completion of this planned basic/translational period of development.