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6CCVD Research

Dosimetric characterization of an encapsulated waterproof silicon carbide detector with UHDR electron and proton beams for FLASH radiotherapy

At a Glance

Section titled ā€œAt a Glanceā€
MetadataDetails
Publication Date2025-09-17
JournalPhysics in Medicine and Biology
AuthorsG. Milluzzo, Damiano Zitelli, Andrea Cavalieri, Mariagrazia Celentano, Fabio Di Martino
InstitutionsUniversity of Trento, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania

Abstract

Section titled ā€œAbstractā€

Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) detectors have been widely demonstrated to be suitable alternative detectors for dosimetry in FLASH radiotherapy, showing radiation hardness and dose-rate independence at the FLASH radiotherapy instantaneous dose rates (IDRs). However, the practical use of such devices in the preclinical/clinical environment still requires the development of special handy housing enabling the quality assurance (QA) measurements under the reference dosimetric conditions. A 10 Ī¼ m thick, 4.5 mm 2 area SiC detector produced by the STLab company was recently embedded at the INFN-Catania Division inside a plastic waterproof 15 mm diameter cylindrical housing. This encapsulated version of SiC (eSiC) allows the measurement of the dose in reference conditions and of the dose profiles in liquid/solid water phantoms for assuring high accuracy dosimetry QA procedures. Dosimetric characterizations were performed with both electron and proton beams at conventional and ultra-high dose rates (UHDR). A first experiment was carried out at the Centro Pisano for Flash Radiotherapy using UHDR 9 MeV electron beams to confirm the linearity of the charge response as a function of the dose per pulse after the encapsulation procedure. A linearity from 1.8 Gy/pulse up to about 12 Gy/pulse, corresponding to an IDR of 3 MGy s āˆ’1 , was found. The percentage depth dose (PDD) distribution in water of 9 MeV electron beams was also measured and compared with the PDD measured with a Freiburg Physikalisch-Technische WerkstƤtten Dr. Pychlau GmbH (PTW) flash diamond detector, used as reference dosimeter. The eSiC detector was also tested with proton beams accelerated by the IBA Proteus 235 cyclotron at the Trento Proton Therapy facility. A response independence on the total delivered dose (1-30 Gy) and average dose rate (50-530 Gy s āˆ’1 ) was found using the UHDR 228 MeV proton beam available along the experimental beamline. The depth dose distribution measured with the eSiC within a liquid water phantom was successfully compared with the one simultaneously measured by the IBA PPC05 reference chamber, using 180 MeV clinical proton beams. The excellent results demonstrated that this first realized eSiC prototype can be used to accurately perform reference and relative dosimetry with UHDR electron and proton beams, contributing to support the clinical translation of FLASH radiotherapy.

Tech Support

Section titled ā€œTech Supportā€

Original Source

Section titled ā€œOriginal Sourceā€

References

Section titled ā€œReferencesā€
  1. 2023 - A prototype low-cost secondary standard calorimeter for reference dosimetry with ultra-high pulse dose rates [Crossref]
  2. 2023 - Evaluation of single-fraction high dose FLASH radiotherapy in a cohort of canine oral cancer patients [Crossref]
  3. 2022 - The probe-format graphite calorimeter, aerrow, for absolute dosimetry in ultrahigh pulse dose rate electron beams [Crossref]
  4. 2023 - Charge collection efficiency of commercially available parallel-plate ionisation chambers in ultra-high dose-per-pulse electron beams [Crossref]
  5. 2021 - Spread-out Bragg peak proton FLASH irradiation using a clinical synchrocyclotron: proof of concept and ion chamber characterization [Crossref]
  6. 2020 - FLASH radiotherapy with electrons: issues related to the production, monitoring and dosimetric characterization of the beam [Crossref]
  7. 2022a - A new calculation method for the free electron fraction of an ionization chamber in the ultra-high-doseper-pulse regimen [Crossref]
  8. 2022b - A new solution for UHDP and UHDR (Flash) measurements: theory and conceptual design of ALLS chamber [Crossref]
  9. 2023 - Architecture, flexibility and performance of a special electron linac dedicated to Flash radiotherapy research: electronFlash with a triode gun of the centro pisano flash radiotherapy (CPFR) [Crossref]
  10. 2020 - Physics and biology of ultrahigh dose-rate (FLASH) radiotherapy: a topical review [Crossref]

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