Metallic Nanoparticles: A Useful Prompt Gamma Emitter for Range Monitoring in Proton Therapy?
Sébastien Penninckx,
Félicien Hespeels,
Julien Smeets,
Julien L. Colaux,
Stéphane Lucas,
Anne-Catherine Heuskin
Affiliations
Sébastien Penninckx
Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions, NAmur Research Institute for Life Sciences, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
Félicien Hespeels
Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions, NAmur Research Institute for Life Sciences, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
Julien Smeets
Ion Beam Applications S.A., Chemin du Cyclotron 3, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Julien L. Colaux
Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM), Synthesis, Irradiation and Analysis of Materials Platform (SIAM), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
Stéphane Lucas
Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions, NAmur Research Institute for Life Sciences, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
Anne-Catherine Heuskin
Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions, NAmur Research Institute for Life Sciences, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium
In clinical practice, dose delivery in proton therapy treatment is affected by uncertainties related to the range of the beam in the patient, which requires medical physicists to introduce safety margins on the penetration depth of the beam. Although this ensures an irradiation of the entire clinical target volume with the prescribed dose, these safety margins also lead to the exposure of nearby healthy tissues and a subsequent risk of side effects. Therefore, non-invasive techniques that allow for margin reduction through online monitoring of prompt gammas emitted along the proton tracks in the patient are currently under development. This study provides the proof-of-concept of metal-based nanoparticles, injected into the tumor, as a prompt gamma enhancer, helping in the beam range verification. It identifies the limitations of this application, suggesting a low feasibility in a realistic clinical scenario but opens some avenues for improvement.
