Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Radiat Res. 2020 Dec 1;194(6):656-664. doi: 10.1667/RADE-20-00068.1.
Extremely high-dose-rate irradiation, referred to as FLASH, has been shown to be less damaging to normal tissues than the same dose administrated at conventional dose rates. These results, typically seen at dose rates exceeding 40 Gy/s (or 2,400 Gy/min), have been widely reported in studies utilizing photon or electron radiation as well as in some proton radiation studies. Here, we report the development of a proton irradiation platform in a clinical proton facility and the dosimetry methods developed. The target is placed in the entry plateau region of a proton beam with a specifically designed double-scattering system. The energy after the double-scattering system is 227.5 MeV for protons that pass through only the first scatterer, and 225.5 MeV for those that also pass through the second scatterer. The double-scattering system was optimized to deliver a homogeneous dose distribution to a field size as large as possible while keeping the dose rate >100 Gy/s and not exceeding a cyclotron current of 300 nA. We were able to obtain a collimated pencil beam (1.6 × 1.2 cm2 ellipse) at a dose rate of ∼120 Gy/s. This beam was used for dose-response studies of partial abdominal irradiation of mice. First results indicate a potential tissue-sparing effect of FLASH.
超高剂量率照射,称为 FLASH,与以常规剂量率给予相同剂量相比,对正常组织的损伤较小。这些结果通常在剂量率超过 40 Gy/s(或 2,400 Gy/min)时出现,在利用光子或电子辐射的研究中以及在一些质子辐射研究中都有广泛报道。在这里,我们报告了在临床质子设施中开发质子辐照平台以及开发的剂量测定方法。靶标放置在质子束的入口平台区域,使用专门设计的双散射系统。对于仅穿过第一个散射器的质子,穿过双散射器后的能量为 227.5 MeV,对于也穿过第二个散射器的质子,能量为 225.5 MeV。双散射系统经过优化,可在保持剂量率>100 Gy/s 且不超过回旋加速器电流 300 nA 的情况下,将尽可能大的照射野的剂量分布均匀化。我们能够获得剂量率约为 120 Gy/s 的准直铅笔束(1.6×1.2 cm2 椭圆)。该束用于小鼠部分腹部照射的剂量反应研究。初步结果表明 FLASH 具有潜在的组织保护作用。