Department of Physics & Medical Physics Unit, McGill University, 1001 boul Decarie, Montreal, QC, H4A 3J1, Canada.
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019, USA.
Med Phys. 2018 Jul;45(7):e707-e721. doi: 10.1002/mp.12929. Epub 2018 May 18.
Acoustic waves are induced via the thermoacoustic effect in objects exposed to a pulsed beam of ionizing radiation. This phenomenon has interesting potential applications in both radiotherapy dosimetry and treatment guidance as well as low-dose radiological imaging. After initial work in the field in the 1980s and early 1990s, little research was done until 2013 when interest was rejuvenated, spurred on by technological advances in ultrasound transducers and the increasing complexity of radiotherapy delivery systems. Since then, many studies have been conducted and published applying ionizing radiation-induced acoustic principles into three primary research areas: Linear accelerator photon beam dosimetry, proton therapy range verification, and radiological imaging. This review article introduces the theoretical background behind ionizing radiation-induced acoustic waves, summarizes recent advances in the field, and provides an outlook on how the detection of ionizing radiation-induced acoustic waves can be used for relative and in vivo dosimetry in photon therapy, localization of the Bragg peak in proton therapy, and as a low-dose medical imaging modality. Future prospects and challenges for the clinical implementation of these techniques are discussed.
声波是通过暴露于脉冲电离辐射束的物体中的热声效应产生的。这种现象在放射治疗剂量学和治疗指导以及低剂量放射成像方面具有有趣的潜在应用。在 20 世纪 80 年代和 90 年代初期的初步研究之后，直到 2013 年，随着超声换能器技术的进步和放射治疗输送系统的日益复杂化，人们重新产生了兴趣，这方面的研究才重新开始。从那时起，已经进行了许多研究并发表了应用电离辐射诱导声原理的研究，主要集中在三个研究领域：线性加速器光子束剂量测定、质子治疗射程验证和放射成像。本文介绍了电离辐射诱导声波的理论背景，总结了该领域的最新进展，并展望了如何利用电离辐射诱导声波进行光子治疗中的相对和体内剂量测定、质子治疗中的布拉格峰定位以及作为一种低剂量医学成像方式。讨论了这些技术临床应用的未来前景和挑战。
