Sawakuchi Gabriel O, Ferreira Felisberto A, McFadden Conor H, Hallacy Timothy M, Granville Dal A, Sahoo Narayan, Akselrod Mark S
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas, Houston, Texas 77030.
Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Sao Paulo, SP 05508-090, Brazil.
Med Phys. 2016 May;43(5):2485. doi: 10.1118/1.4947128.
The authors describe a method in which fluorescence nuclear track detectors (FNTDs), novel track detectors with nanoscale spatial resolution, are used to determine the linear energy transfer (LET) of individual proton tracks from proton therapy beams by allowing visualization and 3D reconstruction of such tracks.
FNTDs were exposed to proton therapy beams with nominal energies ranging from 100 to 250 MeV. Proton track images were then recorded by confocal microscopy of the FNTDs. Proton tracks in the FNTD images were fit by using a Gaussian function to extract fluorescence amplitudes. Histograms of fluorescence amplitudes were then compared with LET spectra.
The authors successfully used FNTDs to register individual proton tracks from high-energy proton therapy beams, allowing reconstruction of 3D images of proton tracks along with delta rays. The track amplitudes from FNTDs could be used to parameterize LET spectra, allowing the LET of individual proton tracks from therapeutic proton beams to be determined.
FNTDs can be used to directly visualize proton tracks and their delta rays at the nanoscale level. Because the track intensities in the FNTDs correlate with LET, they could be used further to measure LET of individual proton tracks. This method may be useful for measuring nanoscale radiation quantities and for measuring the LET of individual proton tracks in radiation biology experiments.
作者描述了一种方法，其中荧光核径迹探测器（FNTDs），一种具有纳米级空间分辨率的新型径迹探测器，通过允许对质子治疗束中单个质子径迹进行可视化和三维重建，来确定其线能量转移（LET）。
将FNTDs暴露于标称能量范围为100至250 MeV的质子治疗束中。然后通过FNTDs的共聚焦显微镜记录质子径迹图像。使用高斯函数拟合FNTD图像中的质子径迹以提取荧光幅度。然后将荧光幅度的直方图与LET谱进行比较。
作者成功地使用FNTDs记录了来自高能质子治疗束的单个质子径迹，从而能够重建质子径迹以及δ射线的三维图像。FNTDs的径迹幅度可用于参数化LET谱，从而确定治疗质子束中单个质子径迹的LET。
FNTDs可用于在纳米尺度水平直接可视化质子径迹及其δ射线。由于FNTDs中的径迹强度与LET相关，它们可进一步用于测量单个质子径迹的LET。该方法可能有助于测量纳米级辐射量以及在放射生物学实验中测量单个质子径迹的LET。
