TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of a laser-driven proton accelerator for cancer therapy
AU - Ma, C. M.
AU - Veltchev, I.
AU - Fourkal, E.
AU - Li, J. S.
AU - Luo, W.
AU - Fan, J.
AU - Lin, T.
AU - Pollack, A.
PY - 2006/4
Y1 - 2006/4
N2 - Recent advances in laser technology have made proton (light ion) acceleration possible using laser-induced plasmas. In this work, we report our work for the last few years on the investigation of a new proton therapy system for radiation oncology, which employs laser-accelerated protons. If successfully developed, the new system will be compact, cost-effective, and capable of delivering energy-and intensity-modulated proton therapy (EIMPT). We have focused our research on three major aspects: (1) target design for laser-proton acceleration, (2) system design for particle/energy selection and beam collimation, and (3) dosimetric studies on the use of laser-accelerated protons for cancer therapy. We have performed particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to investigate optimal target configurations for proton/ion acceleration. We also performed Monte Carlo simulations to study the beam characteristics and the feasibility of using such beams for cancer treatment. Since laser-accelerated protons have broad energy and angular distributions, which are not suitable for radiotherapy applications directly, we have designed a compact particle selection and beam collimating system for EIMPT beam delivery. We also proposed a new gantry design to make the whole system compact to retrofit existing linac vaults. We have compared Monte Carlo calculated dose distributions using X-ray IMRT and laser-proton EIMPT. Our results show that EIMPT using laser protons produces superior target coverage and much reduced critical structure dose and integral dose compared to X-ray IMRT.
AB - Recent advances in laser technology have made proton (light ion) acceleration possible using laser-induced plasmas. In this work, we report our work for the last few years on the investigation of a new proton therapy system for radiation oncology, which employs laser-accelerated protons. If successfully developed, the new system will be compact, cost-effective, and capable of delivering energy-and intensity-modulated proton therapy (EIMPT). We have focused our research on three major aspects: (1) target design for laser-proton acceleration, (2) system design for particle/energy selection and beam collimation, and (3) dosimetric studies on the use of laser-accelerated protons for cancer therapy. We have performed particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to investigate optimal target configurations for proton/ion acceleration. We also performed Monte Carlo simulations to study the beam characteristics and the feasibility of using such beams for cancer treatment. Since laser-accelerated protons have broad energy and angular distributions, which are not suitable for radiotherapy applications directly, we have designed a compact particle selection and beam collimating system for EIMPT beam delivery. We also proposed a new gantry design to make the whole system compact to retrofit existing linac vaults. We have compared Monte Carlo calculated dose distributions using X-ray IMRT and laser-proton EIMPT. Our results show that EIMPT using laser protons produces superior target coverage and much reduced critical structure dose and integral dose compared to X-ray IMRT.
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U2 - 10.1134/S1054660X06040165
DO - 10.1134/S1054660X06040165
M3 - Article
SN - 1054-660X
VL - 16
SP - 639
EP - 646
JO - Laser Physics
JF - Laser Physics
IS - 4
ER -