A PET Prototype for “In-Beam” Monitoring of Proton Therapy

Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> The in-beam PET is a novel PET application to image the <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$\beta^{+}$</tex></formula> activity induced in biological tissues by hadronic therapeutic beams. Thanks to the correlation existing between beam-delivered dose profiles and beam-induced activity profiles, in vivo information about the effective ion paths can be extracted from the in-beam PET image. In-situ measurements, immediately after patient irradiation, are recommended in order to exploit the maximum statistics, by also detecting the contribution provided by the very short lived isotopes, e.g. <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{15}{\rm O}$</tex></formula>. A compact, dedicated tomograph should then be developed for such an application, so as to be used in the treatment room. </para>