Dosimetric characterization and commissioning of a superficial electronic brachytherapy device for skin cancer treatment

Abstract

Background: This work presents the performance of a novel electronic brachytherapy (EBT) device and radiotherapy (RT) experiments on both skin cancer cells and animals using the device. Methods and materials: The performance of the EBT device was evaluated by measuring and analyzing the dosimetric characteristics of X-rays generated from the device. The apoptosis of skin cancer cells was analyzed using B16F10 melanoma cancer cells. Animal experiments were performed using C57BL/6 mice. Results: The X-ray characteristics of the EBT device satisfied the accepted tolerance level for RT. The results of the RT experiments on the skin cancer cells show that a significant apoptosis induction occurred after irradiation with 50 kVp X-rays generated from the EBT device. Furthermore, the results of the animal RT experiments demonstrate that the superficial X-rays significantly delay the tumor growth and that the tumor growth delay induced by irradiation with low-energy X-rays was almost the same as that induced by irradiation with a high-energy electron beam. Conclusions: The developed new EBT device has almost the same therapeutic effect on the skin cancer with a conventional linear accelerator. Consequently, the EBT device can be practically used for human skin cancer treatment in the near future. Keywords: Carbon Nanotube, Electronic Brachytherapy, Miniature X-ray Tube, Radiotherapy Experiments, Skin Cancer