Thesis

Dosimetry evaluation to advance charged particle minibeam radiotherapy

• Call:

  ProtoTera Call 2021/1

• Academic Year:

  2021/2022

• Supervisor:

  Jorge Sampaio

• Co-Supervisor:

  yolanda Prezado

• Host Institution:

  LIP - Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas

• Granting Degree Institution:

  FCUL (Universidade de Lisboa)

• Typology:

  Mixed

• Abroad Institution:

  FCUL (Universidade de Lisboa)

• Abroad Supervisor:

• Abstract:

  Minibeam radiotherapy (MBRT) has aroused enormous interest in the scientific community and is currently one of the frontier areas of research in radiotherapy. In-vivo experiments have shown that irradiation with very high doses result in negligible neurotoxicity and better tumor control. Proton MBRT can be delivered either in passive scattering mode or pencil beam scanning (PBS). The PBS is now the beam delivery mode commercially available by the main suppliers of proton therapy accelerators, most likely being the one that will be available in Portugal. This proposal is particularly relevant to the future development of proton MBRT research in Portugal and to pave future pre-clinical and clinical trials with this modality. It is clearly in line with two domains for application: 1) Research in clinical physics related to proton radiotherapy in what concerns the uncertainties of dose calculation.; 2) Development and optimization of relevant technologies for the therapeutic use of particle beams. The workplan extends this concept to heavier ions making it particularly innovative. The assessment of detectors for high-resolution dosimetry and the implementation of fast Monte Carlo simulations will have a major impact on the research activities that can be developed in the scope of proton therapy. This project will be developed in partnership between LIP’s Dosimetry group and the New Approaches in Radiotherapy group at IC-ORC, which is a world leader in the research of charged particle MBRT.