Devices and procedures to quantify radiation quality effects in radiotherapy

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The goal of radiation therapy is to use radiation to damage tumor cells to an extent that they are either dead (necrotic), or not viable to reproduce (sterile). To control the amount of radiation delivered to the patient, several physical or biological quantities have been suggested and are routinely in use. Although perhaps the most relevant quantity in radiotherapy would be a measure of cell death, the current accepted quantity is physical absorbed dose to water (energy deposited per unit mass of water).Recent novel developments in radiotherapy have resulted in complex delivery systems and radiation treatment plans. At times, the complexity is such that our currently accepted dosimetric protocols and detectors prove insufficient in accurately determining the absorbed dose. Moreover, current evidence-based clinical practice in radiotherapy does not take into consideration the details of radiobiological effects on individual patient treatment plan. The goal of this project is to improve the radiation dosimetry for novel delivery methods and to eventually develop a radiotherapy treatment planning solution that is commissioned and operated based on radiobiological effectiveness of the radiation beam. As such, radiotherapy treatments will be optimized to achieve a certain distribution of cell damage based on tumour type/grade/location and normal tissue proximity. We are developing an absolute dose meter that is superior in characteristics to many of contemporary detectors. Moreover, we suggest a novel approach to measurement of radiation beam quality that indirectly relates to cell damage and paves the way towards a biological effectiveness-based treatment planning software. We will be studying the effects of various modern delivery techniques including particle therapy on radiation dosimetry and biological cell tissue damage.