Ponente
Descripción
PET range verification in proton therapy relies in the comparison of the measured and expected b+ annihilation profiles following the patient irradiation with protons of up to 200 MeV. The very different half-lives of the b+ emitters produced by the beam allows to study the b+ profiles both online or offline, by detecting either short- or long-lived isotopes, respectively.
In order to contribute to a reliable implementation of PET range verification, we have conducted a comprehensive experimental campaign at several irradiation facilities (CNA, WPE and HIT) to measure accurately all the cross sections for proton energies up to 200 MeV that result in a significant production of b+ emitters with both short- (12N, 38mK and 29P) and long- (11C, 13N and 15O) half-lives.
The new data, containing some cross section never measured before, have been used on Monte Carlo simulations with heterogenous phantoms that not only illustrate their impact but also show some interesting features to be considered when discussing the viability, capabilities, and limitations of online PET range verification.
