Low and high LET dose components in carbon beam

Clinical application of light ion beams requires correct understanding of the complex processes of ion interaction with matter and the development of accurate transport methods. Knowledge of the fluence differential in energy of primary and secondary particles is important since it allows evaluation of different linear energy transfer (LET) dose components in the patient. The low LET and high LET particle distributions and the corresponding absorbed doses due to primary and secondary particles were evaluated for different depths in a water phantom using the Monte Carlo code SHIELD-HIT. SHIELD-HIT calculations are compared with the experimental LET distributions for a carbon beam of energy 278 MeV u(-1) from the HIMAC facility in Japan. The capability of the code for the evaluation of particle transport in thin layers of a few micrometres is demonstrated.     

Neutron dose distribution at the GSI fragment separator

GSI is operating a facility for the production of rare isotopes. Nuclei are produced by fragmentation or fission of the impinging heavy ions with energies of approximately 1 GeV per nucleon. The major part of the primary beam and the produced nuclei is deposited in the components of the Fragment Separator (FRS) and generates neutron radiation. Thermoluminescence dosemeters (TLDs) (6LiF/7LiF pairs in PE spheres) were exposed in neutron fields produced by uranium beams with energies between 100 and 1000 MeV per nucleon during an irradiation period in the year 2002. Two-dimensional dose distributions are obtained using these TL measurements in combination with model calculations. The applied model describes the dose distribution as a superposition of dose patterns of 20 single sources equally distributed along the FRS. The single source distribution is based on a measured double differential neutron distribution for a 1 GeV per nucleon uranium beam.     

Shielding calculations for a 100 MeV 30 mA proton beam

The Study and Production of Exotic Species (SPES) project employs a 100 MeV, 30 mA proton beam that strikes a primary target. The resulting high-energy neutron flux impinges on a secondary target of depleted uranium to produce, through fission, beams of short-lived, neutron-rich nuclei. This paper deals with some of the preliminary shielding calculations for the bunker. Monte Carlo is employed with MCNPX and, because of the deep penetrations involved, the in-house variance reduction optimiser, the direct statistical approach. The calculations exhibited a number of typical features that are addressed and discussed.     

Neutron shielding verification measurements and simulations for a 235-MeV proton therapy center

The neutron shielding at the Massachusetts General Hospital's 235-MeV proton therapy facility was investigated with measurements, analytical calculations, and realistic three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations. In 37 of 40 cases studied, the analytical calculations predicted higher neutron dose equivalent rates outside the shielding than the measured, typically by more than a factor of 10, and in some cases more than 100. Monte Carlo predictions of dose equivalent at three locations are, on average, 1.1 times the measured values. Except at one location, all of the analytical model predictions and Monte Carlo simulations overestimate neutron dose equivalent.     

Analytical shielding calculations for a proton therapy facility

The University of Pennsylvania is building a proton therapy facility in collaboration with Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The proposed facility has four gantry rooms, a fixed beam room and a research room, and will use a cyclotron as the source of protons. In this study, neutron shielding considerations for the proposed proton therapy facility were investigated using analytical techniques and Monte Carlo simulated neutron spectra. Neutron spectra calculations were done using the GEANT4 (v6.2) simulation code for various materials: water, carbon, iron, nickel and tantalum to estimate the neutron production at proton beam energies of 100, 175 and 250 MeV. Dose equivalent calculations were performed using analytical methods at various critical points within the facility, by folding the GEANT4 produced neutron spectra with dose equivalent rate data from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Report #144.     

Shielding for a cyclotron used for medical isotope production in China

Monte Carlo and discrete ordinate calculations have been performed to determine the doses at several locations in a positron emission tomography (PET) facility in China, where the radiation source is a cyclotron that is used for the production of the isotopes necessary for PET scans. The energy-dependent neutron source term is obtained by calculations using the ALICE code, and is interpolated for input to Monte Carlo and discrete ordinate calculations. The building that houses the cyclotron has a labyrinth of walls to minimise dose to operators and to other occupants of the building. Unbiased Monte Carlo calculations did not converge after more than one week of CPU time, whereas direction biasing alone resulted in convergence in several days. A study of several biasing techniques indicated that about a factor of 3 in computational efficiency is obtained using evaluated biasing methods. The use of adjoint fluxes for biasing Monte Carlo calculations can improve computational efficiencies by one or two orders of magnitude for some problems.     

Hadron cascades induced by electron and photon beams in the GeV energy range

We consider the calculation of high energy hadron cascades induced by electron and photon beams in the GeV energy range. The most important source of high energy hadrons is the hadronic interaction of photons from the primary electron-photon shower. The hadronic interaction of high energy photons is described by the vector meson dominance model and by a Monte Carlo version of the dual multistring fragmentation model. The results of the calculation are compared to experimental data on hadron production in photon-proton collisions and on the hadron production by electron beams on targets. The electron beam induced hadron cascade is calculated in extended materials.     

Radiation transport calculations for 50 MV photon therapy beam using the Monte Carlo code GEANT4

A new thin transmission target technique for fast dose delivery using narrow scanned photon beams has been developed. High-energy, 50-100 MeV, electron beams of low emittance incident on thin low-Z targets produce narrow and intense high-energy bremsstrahlung beams. However, electrons transmitted through the target are bent from the therapeutic beam by a purging magnet and have to be effectively absorbed in a dedicated electron collector. The electron-photon transport through a treatment head has been studied using the Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4. The Geant4 electromagnetic physics processes have been compared with experimental data of radial dose profiles. The differences between calculated and measured radial dose distributions are approximately 2-10%. Preliminary investigations of the collector design have been carried out in order to minimise secondary electron and photon contamination of the therapeutic beam. The toolkit presented here is promising for further development of narrow photon beam therapy.     

Comparison of the energy-response factor of LiF and Al2O3 in radiotherapy beams

A Monte Carlo study of the energy-response factor of aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and lithium fluoride (LiF) TLDs in kilovoltage and megavoltage photon beams relative to 60Co gamma rays has been performed using EGSnrc Monte Carlo simulations. The sensitive volume of the detector was simulated as a disc of diameter 2.85 mm and thickness 1 mm. The phantom material was water and the irradiation depth was 2.0 cm in kilovoltage photon beams and 5.0 cm for megavoltage photon beams. The results show that the energy-response of the Al2O3 and LiF-TLDs is constant within 3% for photon beam energies in the energy range of 60Co gamma rays to 25 MV X rays. However, both detectors show an enhanced response for kilovoltage photon beams, which in the case of 50 kV X rays is 3.2 times higher than that for 60Co gamma rays. The energy-response factor was 1.46 for LiF irradiated in 50 kV X rays. The Al2O3 detector has an energy-response that is 2.2 times higher than that of LiF in 50 kV X rays decreasing to 1.19 for 250 kV X rays. The results show that the addition of 0.1 or 1% of carbon by weight (as dopant) into the Al2O3 does not change the Monte Carlo determined energy-response factor by more than 1%.     

Reliability of reinforced concrete beams in limit state of cracking— failure rate analysis approach

The reliability of a reinforced concrete beam with respect to the limit state of crack width under monotonically increasing short-time loading conditions is estimated using the Monte Carlo technique and failure rate analysis. Using both methods the reliabilities of 24 beams whose test results are available in the literature and three beams tested in the laboratory have been determined for a limiting crack width of 0.2 mm. A comparison of the reliabilities obtained using failure rate analysis with those obtained directly from Monte Carlo simulation shows good agreement. From failure rate analysis it is found that a two-parameter Weibull distribution can be used to describe the failure life of a reinforced concrete beam with respect to the limit state of crack width. The mean moment to failure of each beam determined from failure rate analysis is compared with the experimental moment to failure.     

The use of Monte Carlo simulations for accurate dose determination with thermoluminescence dosemeters in radiation therapy beams

The energy responses of LiF-TLDs irradiated in megavoltage electron and photon beams have been determined experimentally by many investigators over the past 35 years but the results vary considerably. General cavity theory has been used to model some of the experimental findings but the predictions of these cavity theories differ from each other and from measurements by more than 13%. Recently, two groups or investigators using Monte Carlo simulations and careful experimental techniques showed that the energy response of 1 mm or 2 mm thick LiF-TLD irradiated by megavoltage photon and electron beams is not more than 5% less than unity for low-Z phantom materials like water or Perspex. However, when the depth of irradiation is significantly different from dmax and the TLD size is more than 5 mm, then the energy response is up to 12% less than unity for incident electron beams. Monte Carlo simulations of some of the experiments reported in the literature showed that some of the contradictory experimental results are reproducible with Monte Carlo simulations. Monte Carlo simulations show that the energy response of LiF-TLDs depends on the size of detector used in electron beams, the depth of irradiation and the incident electron energy. Other differences can be attributed to absolute dose determination and precision of the TL technique. Monte Carlo simulations have also been used to evaluate some of the published general cavity theories. The results show that some of the parameters used to evaluate Burlin's general cavity theory are wrong by factor of 3. Despite this, the estimation of the energy response for most clinical situations using Burlin's cavity equation agrees with Monte Carlo simulations within 1%.     

Electron fluence perturbation by gap-shaped and by cylindrical gas-filled ionization chambers with axes normal to the beam

For electron beam absorbed dose measurements using gas-ionization chamber, a perturbation correction factor has been defined to correct for the disturbance of the fluence. For a gap-shaped cavity, a revised perturbation factor is derived. The range of validity of the calculations is extended over that of a previous study. The direct calculations for cylindrical cavities are very difficult. Instead, the form of the cylinder is approximated by a square parallelepiped. Comparison with Monte Carlo calculations showed good agreement.     

Neutron production in tissue-like media and shielding materials irradiated with high-energy ion beams

Secondary neutrons produced in high-energy therapeutic ion beams require special attention since they contribute to the dose delivered to patient, both to tumour and to the healthy tissues. Moreover, monitoring of neutron production in the beam line elements and the patient is of importance for radiation protection aspects around ion therapy facility. Monte Carlo simulations of light ion transport in the tissue-like media (water, A-150, PMMA) and materials of interest for shielding devices (graphite, steel and Pb) were performed using the SHIELD-HIT and MCNPX codes. The capability of the codes to reproduce the experimental data on neutron spectra differential both in energy and angle is demonstrated for neutron yield from the thick targets. Both codes show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. The absorbed dose due to neutrons produced in the water and A-150 phantoms is calculated for proton (200 MeV) and carbon (390 MeV/u) beams. Secondary neutron dose contribution is approximately 0.6% of the total dose delivered to the phantoms by proton beam and at the similar level for both materials. For carbon beam the neutron dose contribution is approximately 1.0 and 1.2% for the water and A-150 phantoms, respectively. The neutron ambient dose equivalent, H(10), was determined for neutrons leaving different shielding materials after irradiation with ions of various energies.     

Track nanodosimetry of 20-MeV protons at 20 nm

Track nanodosimetry is the theoretical and experimental research which studies the stochastic aspects of ionisation yield produced by ionising particles in nanometric target volumes, positioned at different distances from the primary particle track. The STARTRACK experimental set-up, mounted on the +50° beam line at the Tandem-Alpi particle accelerator of Legnaro National Laboratories, has been conceived to give an experimental basis to nanodosimetric calculations. STARTRACK is a detection system able to measure the ionisation cluster-size distributions in a 20 nm propane site, by counting the electrons set in motion by different ion tracks, with the resolution of one electron. The 'sensitive volume' SV can be moved at different distances from the primary particle track (different impact parameter). Distributions of 20-MeV protons have been measured and compared with Monte Carlo calculations.     

Comparative study of electron beam-gas interaction in an SEM operating at pressures up to 300 Pa

The effects of three different gas environments formed by pure argon, helium and nitrogen with variable pressures up to 300 Pa inside the specimen chamber of a scanning electron microscope on the electron beam parameters were investigated and compared using Monte Carlo calculations. The calculations show that the skirt of the electron beam probe is nearly independent of pressure in the case of helium, which is also supported by experimental evidence. Both theoretical simulation and experimental facts indicate helium as the environment of choice in specimen chambers for minimizing the effect of beam-gas interactions.     

A beam profile monitor for heavy ion beams at high impact energies

A beam profile monitor for heavy ion beams has been developed for the use in experiments at the Heavy Ion Synchrotron SIS at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt (GSI). Four thin scintillation fibres are mounted on one wheel and scan the ion beam sequentially in two linearly independent directions. They are read out via one single photomultiplier common to all four fibres into one time spectrum, which provides all information about beam position, beam extension, time structure and lateral homogeneity of the beam. The system operates in a wide dynamic range of beam intensities.     

Gel dosimetry in the BNCT facility for extra-corporeal treatment of liver cancer at the HFR Petten

A thorough evaluation of the dose inside a specially designed and built facility for extra-corporeal treatment of liver cancer by boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) Petten (The Netherlands) is the necessary step before animal studies can start. The absorbed doses are measured by means of gel dosemeters, which help to validate the Monte Carlo simulations of the spheroidal liver holder that will contain the human liver for irradiation with an epithermal neutron beam. These dosemeters allow imaging of the dose due to gammas and to the charged particles produced by the (10)B reaction. The thermal neutron flux is extrapolated from the boron dose images and compared to that obtained by the calculations. As an additional reference, Au, Cu and Mn foil measurements are performed. All results appear consistent with the calculations and confirm that the BNCT liver facility is able to provide an almost homogeneous thermal neutron distribution in the liver, which is a requirement for a successful treatment of liver metastases.     

Preliminary shielding assessment for the 100 MeV proton linac (KOMAC)

The Proton Engineering Frontier Project is building the Korea Multipurpose Accelerator Complex facilities from 2002 to 2012, which consists of a high-current 100 MeV proton linear accelerator and various beam-lines. This paper provides a preliminary estimate of the shielding required for the 20 mA proton linac and the beam-dump. For an accurate information on secondary neutron production from the guiding magnet and primary heat sink of the beam dump, proton-induced 63Cu and 65Cu cross section data were evaluated and applied to shielding calculations. The required thickness of the concrete was assessed by a simple line-of-sight model for the lateral shielding of the beam-line and the full shielding of the beam dump. Monte Carlo simulations were also performed using the MCNPX code to obtain the source term and attenuation coefficients for the three-dimensional lateral shielding model of the beam-line.     

A self-calibrating ionisation chamber for the precise intensity calibration of high-energy heavy-ion beam monitors

The intensity of a ¹³⁶Xe(600 A MeV) beam has been determined by simultaneously measuring the particle rate and the corresponding ionisation current with an ionisation chamber. The ionisation current of this self-calibrating device was compared at higher intensities with the current of a secondary-electron monitor and a calibration of the secondary-electron current was achieved with a precision of 2%. This method can be applied to all high-energy heavy-ion beams.     

A Monte Carlo program for quantitative electron-induced X-ray analysis of individual particles

A versatile Monte Carlo program for quantitative particle analysis in electron probe X-ray microanalysis is presented. The program includes routines for simulating electron-solid interactions in microparticles lying on a flat surface and calculating the generated X-ray signal. Simulation of the whole X-ray spectrum as well as phi(z) curves is possible. The most important facility of the program is the reverse Monte Carlo quantification of the chemical composition of microparticles, including low-Z elements, such as C, N, O, and F. This quantification method is based on the combination of a single scattering Monte Carlo simulation and a robust successive approximation. An iteration procedure is employed; in each iteration step, the Monte Carlo simulation program calculates characteristic X-ray intensities, and a new set of concentration values for chemical elements in the particle is determined. When the simulated X-ray intensities converge to the measured ones, the input values of elemental concentrations used for the simulation are determined as chemical compositions of the particle. This quantification procedure was evaluated by investigating various types of standard particles, and good accuracy of the methodology was demonstrated. A methodology for heterogeneity assessment of single particles is also described.