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Project

Production of mass separated 11C beams for PET-aided hadron therapy

Nuclear physics, particularly the process of radioactive decay, plays an important role in nuclear medicine for the diagnosis and therapy of cancers. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and is therefore a hot topic in research. Many different types of cancer exist, which are treated with a variety of therapies. Hadron therapy, and particularly 12C therapy is a promising treatment modality for non-metastatic cancers, where tumors are irradiated with mono-energetic and high intensity external ion beams. Its main advantage compared to conventional photon therapy is the reduction of dose exposure to healthy tissue, which is reflected in the dose-depth profile where the majority of the initial beam energy is distributed in a narrow peak at the end of the ion beam's trajectory (Bragg peak). By tuning the initial beam energy such that the Bragg peak is localized in the tumor region, dose distribution is maximized in the cancerous region, while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. One of the main obstacles in the success of hadron therapy is the prediction of the correct range, which is associated with considerably uncertainties.  Therefore, in-vivo range verification modalities based on PET-imaging are currently explored, aiming to determine the actual charged particle’s range during treatment. This thesis is dedicated to an approach where the stable primary 12C beam is replaced by its positron emitting radioisotope 11C, which as a result allows to combine therapy with on-line PET-imaging. For this purpose, a radioactive ion beam production (RIB) system was developed based on the Isotope Separation On-line (ISOL) method, tailored for high intensity 11CO+ production, which can be implemented into existing hadron therapy centers, and allows delivery of sufficiently intense ion beams to the patient room. Key-component in this production system was the development of a solid ISOL target with optimized microstructural properties for enhanced isotope release properties. This thesis comprises all aspects starting from material selection, target fabrication and systematic target characterization with respect to its microstructure, operational limitations and release properties, which enabled to study possible implementation concepts into existing hadron therapy centers. It was thereby demonstrated that the developed RIB production system is capable of producing sufficiently intense 11CO+ beams for the development of a 11C based hadron therapy protocol.      

 

 

 

 

 

Date:1 Jun 2016 →  31 Aug 2020
Keywords:Nuclear physics for health
Disciplines:Classical physics, Elementary particle and high energy physics, Other physical sciences, Applied mathematics in specific fields, Quantum physics, Nuclear physics, Condensed matter physics and nanophysics, Instructional sciences
Project type:PhD project