Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a neutron-based treatment designed to eliminate tumors, mainly head and neck tumors or Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), using 1 or 2 sessions, which is an advantage over conventional therapies that could use more than 20 individual sessions. It is a two-step strategy: first, the administration of a boron-containing compound to selectively enrich tumor...
Approximately half of newly diagnosed cancer patients undergo radiotherapy, most
commonly with X-rays. Proton therapy has emerged as an advanced alternative,
offering highly localized energy deposition at the Bragg peak, which reduces
irradiation of healthy tissues and associated toxicity. Technological advances have
enhanced its availability in clinical routine, which has redirected research...
Cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful molecular imaging technique, but its use is severely limited by poor spatial resolution. This limitation is particularly critical in preclinical studies with rodents, where small anatomical structures, high respiratory and heart rates exacerbate image blurring, partial volume effects, and quantitative errors [1]. These degradations arise...
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) relies on CT-based attenuation maps for accurate image reconstruction. The quality of these attenuation maps depends on CT acquisition parameters, particularly tube voltage and current. Higher tube currents improve image quality by reducing noise, but at the cost of higher radiation exposure. Conversely, reducing the current lowers the radiation dose but...
Total-Body Positron Emission Tomography (TB-PET) systems have become very popular in the recent times, due to their increased sensitivity with respect to Whole-Body (WB) PET systems. This is mainly attributed to their extended axial Field of View (FOV) and, in a few cases, the capability of Time of Flight (TOF) information. This combination enables the simultaneous visualization of the...
PET has consolidated as one of the most used and important molecular imaging techniques. However, there is still room for improvement. Specifically, boosting the system’s sensitivity will allow dose and/or time acquisition reduction without impacting the reconstructed image’s quality. BGO detectors have higher density when compared with the most used lutetium-based detectors, which translates...
Hybrid imaging systems integrating Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Focused Ultrasound (FUS) are increasingly demanded in preclinical and translational research, yet no trimodal commercial solution currently exists. We have designed, assembled, and validated a dedicated PET insert based on monolithic LYSO crystals (33×25.4×8 mm³) with 67 mm of axial...
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of a dermoprotective bra on the progression of acute radiodermatitis induced by radiotherapy, using as an objective biomarker a quantitative skin perfusion index obtained by Laser Doppler imaging.
Materials and methods:
Forty-seven patients with breast cancer treated with ultra-hypofractionated radiotherapy (total dose 26 Gy delivered in five fractions of 5.2...
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an experimental form of radiotherapy that uses boron, injected to the patient within a target molecule that accumulates selectively in cancerous cells. This therapy exploits the large boron neutron capture cross-section to deliver a targeted dose from neutron irradiation. BNCT has shown great promise with the advent of accelerator-based technologies,...
Hadron therapy provides notable advantages compared to traditional radiotherapy, largely because it allows for precise dose delivery at the Bragg peak. The effectiveness of this approach could be further improved with the implementation of a near real-time ion-range verification system. Such monitoring would make it possible to minimize safety margins and better exploit the full potential of...
The PRIDE project (Proton Range and Imaging Device) aims to integrate a proton computed tomography (pCT) scanner and a proton range verification (pRV) detector into a single device for proton therapy. Our collaboration has carried out extensive work on pCT with experiments taking place in June and December 2022 at the Krakow CCB facility.
Proton range verification (pRV) consists of...
Metastatic bone cancer contributes to approximately 2 to 3 million cancer-related deaths worldwide annually. Between 5% and 10% of new cancer patients will develop bone metastases. A major challenge in treating this disease is the inability to perform imaging during particle radiation therapy (PRT), due to high radiation doses from frequent scans, patient pain, and mobility constraints....
Objective: The quantitative relationship between dose delivered outside the treated volume and stochastic effects is not well understood, although epidemiological evidence supports the hypothesis that low to moderate doses of ionizing radiation are associated with measurable excess risk of several types of cancer. Current studies of second primary cancer after radiotherapy demand the...
X-ray fluorescence imaging (XFI) is an emerging molecular imaging technique that combines high sensitivity with high spatial resolution, offering significant penetration depth in tissues while minimizing ionizing radiation exposure compared to current methods. This makes XFI a promising tool for early cancer detection and personalized treatment. The “Integrated Molecular Imaging for...
When it comes to treating cancer in critical regions such as the brain, precision is vital, as reducing margins of error can significantly decrease negative side effects of treatment. Due to their finite range and deposition profile, protons are an ideal candidate for this sort of treatment. However, this finite range of protons is both their biggest advantage and their biggest challenge, as a...
gVirtualXray for X-ray imaging simulations and education
gVirtualXray is an open-source library designed to simulate X-ray images in real time using the power of the GPU. Its core relies on the Beer–Lambert law to model the absorption of photons by three-dimensional objects, such as polygon meshes. This project has received numerous awards and recognitions related to its use in education...
El uso de dispositivos digitales ha incrementado la exposición a fuentes de luz artificial con espectros distintos a los medios impresos. Muchas pantallas emiten un pico en la región azul del espectro visible(440-460 nm), inexistente en el papel bajo iluminación normal(1). La luz azul, por su mayor energía, puede afectar a la fatiga ocular, la supresión de melatonina y otros procesos...
Purpose:
This study aimed to compare static pupillometry under mesopic conditions between European
and African populations, given the limited data directly contrasting pupillary dimensions across
ethnic groups. Characterizing pupil diameter is relevant in detecting ocular alterations,
particularly in a multicultural context. While age-related pupillary changes are well documented
in Caucasian...
In the last years there is an increasing demand for advanced medical treatments, a field where particle accelerators play a crucial role. However, their availability is significantly limited due to high maintenance and operational costs, on the one hand, and the need for advanced technology and highly skilled personnel for their design and construction, on the other. The main goal of the...
Operating medical linear accelerators (LINACs) above 6 MV generates unwanted neutrons through (γ,n) interactions with high-Z materials in the accelerator head. These secondary neutrons contribute additional dose to healthy tissues and may lead to late-onset adverse effects [1]. Moreover, the neutron yield shows high variability, depending on several factors, e.g., LINAC model, beam energy, and...
The electron LINAC ElectronFlash installed at the Institut Curie (France) is dedicated to the investigation of the FLASH effect on pre-clinical trials and radiobiology studies [1]. The accurate beam characterization is essential for a proper dose calibration. Although a few dosimeters operate under FLASH conditions, e.g., diamond [2], ultra-thin ionization chambers (UTIC) [3], and SiC-based...
The spatial distribution of energy deposition events produced by the different types of ionizing radiation is a key factor to determine their radiobiological effects at the cellular scale. The theoretical framework provided by microdosimetry has been widely employed to describe these stochastic interactions, particularly in studies addressing the characterization of Linear Energy Transfer...
The distribution of produced isotopes during proton therapy can be imaged with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to verify dose delivery. However, biological washout, driven by tissue-dependent processes such as perfusion and cellular metabolism, reduces PET signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and limits quantitative analysis. In this work, we propose an uncertainty-aware deep learning framework to...
The central challenge in radiotherapy (RT) is to deliver a sufficiently high dose to achieve tumour control while sparing healthy tissues. FLASH RT, which delivers radiation at ultra-high dose rates (≥40 Gy/s) compared with conventional RT (≈0.05 Gy/s), has emerged as a promising approach. Preclinical studies have shown that FLASH reduces toxicity in normal tissues while preserving or even...
Introduction: Pencil beam scanning (PBS) is one of the main delivery techniques in proton therapy (PT). A narrow proton beam irradiates the tumor layer by layer, delivering dose to specific locations (spots) within each layer. However, PBS is highly sensitive to uncertainties, making the treatment of moving targets in PT especially challenging due to respiratory motion. The interplay effect,...
Introducción. La hipoxia es una condición tumoral que dificulta la eficacia de la radioterapia y exige modelos in vitro controlables y reproducibles. Presentamos una plataforma experimental compuesta por dos cámaras hipóxicas diseñadas y construidas in-house (una portátil y una de gran volumen con guantes) y un modelo 1D de difusión de oxígeno para planificar y validar exposiciones hipóxicas...
Introducción: La dosimetría sanguínea en radioterapia de protones o fotones representa un desafío significativo debido al comportamiento dinámico de la sangre como órgano a riesgo. Cuantificar con precisión la dosis recibida por la sangre circulante de un paciente específico es esencial para poder minimizar efectos adversos en los pacientes. Por ello, presentamos FLIP-HEDOS, un modelo...
Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) with alpha-emitters is rapidly gaining importance in oncology due to the high linear energy transfer and short range of alpha particles, enabling effective tumour control while sparing healthy tissue. However, accurate dosimetry remains a major challenge, as conventional nuclear medicine imaging is not optimized to determine radionuclide distributions from...
The development of novel medical imaging techniques such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and SPECT (Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography) has increased the demand for nuclear radioisotopes in medical diagnostics. Currently, the production of radioisotopes for medical imaging and treatment is primarily carried out using conventional accelerators (cyclotrons) and dedicated nuclear...
Introduction:
Neutron dosimetry is still facing important challenges, particularly in mixed radiation fields of high intensity and energy, such as those found in particle accelerators or hadron therapy facilities, where neutrons are generated as secondary particles. The task becomes even more complex in pulsed radiation structures, as encountered in advanced therapeutic approaches like FLASH...
