Feasibility study of a plastic scintillating plate-based treatment beam fluence monitoring system for use in pencil beam scanning proton therapy

Seonghoon Jeong, Kwangzoo Chung, Sung Hwan Ahn, Boram Lee, Jaehyeon Seo, Myonggeun Yoon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe a plastic scintillating plate-based gantry-attachable dosimetry system for pencil beam scanning proton therapy to monitor entrance proton beam fluence, and to evaluate the dosimetric characteristics of this system and its feasibility for clinical use. Methods: The dosimetry system, consisting of a plastic scintillating plate and a CMOS camera, was attached to a dedicated scanning nozzle and scintillation during proton beam irradiation was recorded. Dose distribution was calculated from the accumulated recorded frames. The dosimetric characteristics (energy dependency, dose linearity, dose rate dependency, and reproducibility) of the gantry-attachable dosimetry system for use with therapeutic proton beams were measured, and the feasibility of this system during clinical use was evaluated by determining selected quality assurance items at our institution. Results: The scintillating plate shortened the range of the proton beam by the water-equivalent thickness of the plate and broadened the spatial profile of the single proton spot by 11% at 70 MeV. The developed system functioned independently of the beam energy (<1.3%) and showed dose linearity, and also functioned independently of the dose rate. The feasibility of the system for clinical use was evaluated by comparing the measured quality assurance dose distribution to that of the treatment planning system. The gamma passing rate with a criterion of 3%/3 mm was 97.58%. Conclusions: This study evaluated the dosimetric characteristics of a plastic scintillating plate-based dosimetry system for use with scanning proton beams. The ability to account for the interference of the dosimetry system on the therapeutic beam enabled offline monitoring of the entrance beam fluence of the pencil beam scanning proton therapy independent of the treatment system with high resolution and in a cost-effective manner.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)703-712
Number of pages10
JournalMedical physics
Volume47
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020 Feb 1

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Keywords

  • dose monitoring
  • pencil beam scanning proton therapy
  • plastic scintillating plate

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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