Proton and Carbon Ion Therapy PDF

Preface

This book aims at providing a comprehensive and practical guide to proton and carbon ion therapy for a broad range of personnel in medical physics and radiation therapy, including medical physicists, radiation oncologists, dosimetrists, therapists, medical engineers, and trainees in these disciplines. The scope of this book includes physics and radiobiology basics of proton and ion beams, dosimetry methods and radiation measurements, treatment delivery systems, and practical guidance on patient setup, target localization, and treatment planning for clinical proton and carbon ion therapy, as well as detailed reports on the treatment of pediatric cancers, lymphomas, and various other cancers. The aim is to offer a balanced and critical assessment of state-ofthe- art proton and carbon ion therapy along with a discussion of major challenges and future outlook.

This book contains 11 chapters. The first chapter provides an overview, and the final chapter describes future challenges. The remaining content is divided into three sections. The first section provides the basic aspects of proton and carbon ion therapy equipment covering accelerators, gantries, and delivery systems. Chapter 2 describes accelerators for proton and carbon ion therapy, including cyclotron, synchrotron, and other acceleration developments (such as dielectric wall accelerators, laser-accelerated particle beams, and new concepts, including cyclinac and compact cyclotron solutions). Chapter 3 describes proton and carbon ion therapy systems, with a focus on their major components, including energy selection systems, beam transport systems, control systems, gantries, and beam delivery systems. Chapter 4 summarizes the requirements for proton and carbon ion therapy facilities covering performance and dosimetric specifications, room and building designs, shielding calculations, and economic considerations. The second section provides useful material on dosimetry, biology, imaging, and treatment planning basics for proton and carbon ion therapy. Chapter 5 provides a detailed review of radiobiology for proton and carbon ion therapy, including Bragg peak and linear energy transfer (LET), relative radiobiological effectiveness (RBE), oxygen enhancement ratio (OER), and fractionation effect and radiobiological modeling. Chapter 6 gives a thorough review of dosimetry for proton and carbon ion therapy covering detectors, measurement techniques, dosimetry protocols, acceptance testing, beam commissioning, clinical quality assurance procedures, and analysis of dosimetry uncertainty. Chapter 7 introduces image-guided proton and carbon ion therapy. It begins with the complex radiation therapy process and then discusses the application of various image methods for patient immobilization, target definition and structure delineation, patient setup and target localization, dosimetry verification and treatment assessment, and analysis of treatment uncertainty. Chapter 8 focuses on treatment planning for proton and carbon ion therapy with detailed descriptions of treatment-planning systems, dose calculation algorithms, basic planning techniques, and advanced techniques for beam scanning, intensity modulation, and moving targets. The third section provides clinical guidelines for proton and carbon ion therapy for the treatment of specific cancers (sites). Chapters 9 and 10 give a detailed review of the current techniques and treatment outcomes of proton and carbon ion therapy for various treatment sites with four major components: 1) treatment protocols; 2) planning techniques; 3) treatment procedure; and 4) clinical results with a comparison to high-energy electron and photon radiotherapy.

Proton and carbon ion therapy has experienced a revolutionary transition over the last 10 years with remarkable advances in accelerator design, treatment delivery, treatment planning, and quality assurance systems. For the next decade, further improvements are expected in accuracy, efficiency, and robustness. More hospital-based, state-of-the-art proton and carbon ion therapy facilities will be built, and increasing numbers of patients will be treated. We attempt to provide a comprehensive monograph on the important aspects of proton and carbon ion therapy that we hope will serve as an introduction for those who are new to this field and a useful resource for those who are already using proton and carbon ion therapy clinically. Contributions dealing with topics that are still in rapid development present our best current knowledge of and guidance for proton and carbon ion therapy. Technologies and clinical practice may change with time, but we expect that the many basic components presented in this book will remain relevant and useful to the radiotherapy community in the future.