| Records |
| Author |
Solevi, P.; Muñoz, E.; Solaz, C.; Trovato, M.; Dendooven, P.; Gillam, J.E.; Lacasta, C.; Oliver, J.F.; Rafecas, M.; Torres-Espallardo, I.; Llosa, G. |
| Title |
Performance of MACACO Compton telescope for ion-beam therapy monitoring: first test with proton beams |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2016 |
Publication |
Physics in Medicine and Biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Phys. Med. Biol. |
Volume  |
61 |
Issue |
14 |
Pages |
5149-5165 |
| Keywords |
ion-beam therapy; range verification; prompt gamma; Compton camera; GATE |
| Abstract |
In order to exploit the advantages of ion-beam therapy in a clinical setting, delivery verification techniques are necessary to detect deviations from the planned treatment. Efforts are currently oriented towards the development of devices for real-time range monitoring. Among the different detector concepts proposed, Compton cameras are employed to detect prompt gammas and represent a valid candidate for real-time range verification. We present the first on-beam test of MACACO, a Compton telescope (multi-layer Compton camera) based on lanthanum bromide crystals and silicon photo-multipliers. The Compton telescope was first characterized through measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. The detector linearity was measured employing Na-22 and Am-Be sources, obtaining about 10% deviation from linearity at 3.44 MeV. A spectral image reconstruction algorithm was tested on synthetic data. Point-like sources emitting gamma rays with energy between 2 and 7 MeV were reconstructed with 3-5 mm resolution. The two-layer Compton telescope was employed to measure radiation emitted from a beam of 150 MeV protons impinging on a cylindrical PMMA target. Bragg-peak shifts were achieved via adjustment of the PMMA target location and the resulting measurements used during image reconstruction. Reconstructed Bragg peak profiles proved sufficient to observe peak-location differences within 10 mm demonstrating the potential of the MACACO Compton Telescope as a monitoring device for ion-beam therapy. |
| Address |
[Solevi, Paola; Munoz, Enrique; Solaz, Carles; Trovato, Marco; Gillam, John E.; Lacasta, Carlos; Oliver, Josep F.; Rafecas, Magdalena; Torres-Espallardo, Irene; Llosa, Gabriela] IFIC CSIC UVEG, Inst Fis Corpuscular, Valencia, Spain, Email: paola.solevi@ovgu.de |
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| Publisher |
Iop Publishing Ltd |
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| Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0031-9155 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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| Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
WOS:000379555300007 |
Approved |
no |
| Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
| Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
2754 |
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| Author |
Cabello, J.; Torres-Espallardo, I.; Gillam, J.E.; Rafecas, M. |
| Title |
PET Reconstruction From Truncated Projections Using Total-Variation Regularization for Hadron Therapy Monitoring |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. |
| Volume |
60 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
3364-3372 |
| Keywords |
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| Abstract |
Hadron therapy exploits the properties of ion beams to treat tumors by maximizing the dose released to the target and sparing healthy tissue. With hadron beams, the dose distribution shows a relatively low entrance dose which rises sharply at the end of the range, providing the characteristic Bragg peak that drops quickly thereafter. It is of critical importance in order not to damage surrounding healthy tissues and/or avoid targeting underdosage to know where the delivered dose profile ends-the location of the Bragg peak. During hadron therapy, short-lived beta(+)-emitters are produced along the beam path, their distribution being correlated with the delivered dose. Following positron annihilation, two photons are emitted, which can be detected using a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The low yield of emitters, their short half-life, and the wash out from the target region make the use of PET, even only a few minutes after hadron irradiation, a challenging application. In-beam PET represents a potential candidate to estimate the distribution of beta(+)-emitters during or immediately after irradiation, at the cost of truncation effects and degraded image quality due to the partial rings required of the PET scanner. Time-of-flight (ToF) information can potentially be used to compensate for truncation effects and to enhance image contrast. However, the highly demanding timing performance required in ToF-PET makes this option costly. Alternatively, the use of maximum-a-posteriori-expectation-maximization (MAP-EM), including total variation (TV) in the cost function, produces images with low noise, while preserving spatial resolution. In this paper, we compare data reconstructed with maximum-likelihood-expectation-maximization (ML-EM) and MAP-EM using TV as prior, and the impact of including ToF information, from data acquired with a complete and a partial-ring PET scanner, of simulated hadron beams interacting with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) target. The results show that MAP-EM, in the absence of ToF information, produces lower noise images and more similar data compared to the simulated beta(+) distributions than ML-EM with ToF information in the order of 200-600 ps. The investigation is extended to the combination of MAP-EM and ToF information to study the limit of performance using both approaches. |
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| ISSN |
0018-9499 |
ISBN |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
WOS:000325827200023 |
Approved |
no |
| Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
| Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
1610 |
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| Author |
Oliver, J.F.; Fuster-Garcia, E.; Cabello, J.; Tortajada, S.; Rafecas, M. |
| Title |
Application of Artificial Neural Network for Reducing Random Coincidences in PET |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. |
| Volume |
60 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
3399-3409 |
| Keywords |
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| Abstract |
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is based on the detection in coincidence of the two photons created in a positron annihilation. In conventional PET, this coincidence identification is usually carried out through a coincidence electronic unit. An accidental coincidence occurs when two photons arising from different annihilations are classified as a coincidence. Accidental coincidences are one of the main sources of image degradation in PET. Some novel systems allow coincidences to be selected post-acquisition in software, or in real time through a digital coincidence engine in an FPGA. These approaches provide the user with extra flexibility in the sorting process and allow the application of alternative coincidence sorting procedures. In this work a novel sorting procedure based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques has been developed. It has been compared to a conventional coincidence sorting algorithm based on a time coincidence window. The data have been obtained from Monte-Carlo simulations. A small animal PET scanner has been implemented to this end. The efficiency (the ratio of correct identifications) can be selected for both methods. In one case by changing the actual value of the coincidence window used, and in the other by changing a threshold at the output of the neural network. At matched efficiencies, the ANN-based method always produces a sorted output with a smaller random fraction. In addition, two differential trends are found: the conventional method presents a maximum achievable efficiency, while the ANN-based method is able to increase the efficiency up to unity, the ideal value, at the cost of increasing the random fraction. Images reconstructed using ANN sorted data (no compensation for randoms) present better contrast, and those image features which are more affected by randoms are enhanced. For the image quality phantom used in the paper, the ANN method decreases the spill-over ratio by a factor of 18%. |
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0018-9499 |
ISBN |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
WOS:000325827200027 |
Approved |
no |
| Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
| Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
1611 |
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| Author |
Ortega, P.G.; Torres-Espallardo, I.; Cerutti, F.; Ferrari, A.; Gillam, J.E.; Lacasta, C.; Llosa, G.; Oliver, J.F.; Sala, P.R.; Solevi, P.; Rafecas, M. |
| Title |
Noise evaluation of Compton camera imaging for proton therapy |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Physics in Medicine and Biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Phys. Med. Biol. |
| Volume |
60 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
1845-1863 |
| Keywords |
proton therapy; Compton camera; Monte Carlo methods; FLUKA; prompt gamma; range verification; MLEM |
| Abstract |
Compton Cameras emerged as an alternative for real-time dose monitoring techniques for Particle Therapy (PT), based on the detection of prompt-gammas. As a consequence of the Compton scattering process, the gamma origin point can be restricted onto the surface of a cone (Compton cone). Through image reconstruction techniques, the distribution of the gamma emitters can be estimated, using cone-surfaces backprojections of the Compton cones through the image space, along with more sophisticated statistical methods to improve the image quality. To calculate the Compton cone required for image reconstruction, either two interactions, the last being photoelectric absorption, or three scatter interactions are needed. Because of the high energy of the photons in PT the first option might not be adequate, as the photon is not absorbed in general. However, the second option is less efficient. That is the reason to resort to spectral reconstructions, where the incoming. energy is considered as a variable in the reconstruction inverse problem. Jointly with prompt gamma, secondary neutrons and scattered photons, not strongly correlated with the dose map, can also reach the imaging detector and produce false events. These events deteriorate the image quality. Also, high intensity beams can produce particle accumulation in the camera, which lead to an increase of random coincidences, meaning events which gather measurements from different incoming particles. The noise scenario is expected to be different if double or triple events are used, and consequently, the reconstructed images can be affected differently by spurious data. The aim of the present work is to study the effect of false events in the reconstructed image, evaluating their impact in the determination of the beam particle ranges. A simulation study that includes misidentified events (neutrons and random coincidences) in the final image of a Compton Telescope for PT monitoring is presented. The complete chain of detection, from the beam particle entering a phantom to the event classification, is simulated using FLUKA. The range determination is later estimated from the reconstructed image obtained from a two and three-event algorithm based on Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization. The neutron background and random coincidences due to a therapeutic-like time structure are analyzed for mono-energetic proton beams. The time structure of the beam is included in the simulations, which will affect the rate of particles entering the detector. |
| Address |
[Ortega, P. G.; Cerutti, F.; Ferrari, A.] CERN European Org Nucl Res, CH-1217 Meyrin, Switzerland, Email: pgarciao@cern.ch |
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| Publisher |
Iop Publishing Ltd |
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| Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0031-9155 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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| Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
WOS:000349530700009 |
Approved |
no |
| Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
| Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
2115 |
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| Author |
Torres-Espallardo, I.; Diblen, F.; Rohling, H.; Solevi, P.; Gillam, J.; Watts, D.; Espana, S.; Vandenberghe, S.; Fiedler, F.; Rafecas, M. |
| Title |
Evaluation of resistive-plate-chamber-based TOF-PET applied to in-beam particle therapy monitoring |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Physics in Medicine and Biology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Phys. Med. Biol. |
| Volume |
60 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
N187-N208 |
| Keywords |
PET; in-beam; RPC; particle therapy; TOF; range deviation; partial-ring |
| Abstract |
Particle therapy is a highly conformal radiotherapy technique which reduces the dose deposited to the surrounding normal tissues. In order to fully exploit its advantages, treatment monitoring is necessary to minimize uncertainties related to the dose delivery. Up to now, the only clinically feasible technique for the monitoring of therapeutic irradiation with particle beams is Positron Emission Tomography (PET). In this work we have compared a Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC)-based PET scanner with a scintillation-crystal-based PET scanner for this application. In general, the main advantages of the RPC-PET system are its excellent timing resolution, low cost, and the possibility of building large area systems. We simulated a partial-ring scannerbeam monitoring, which has an intrinsically low positron yield compared to diagnostic PET. In addition, for in-beam PET there is a further data loss due to the partial ring configuration. In order to improve the performance of the RPC-based scanner, an improved version of the RPC detector (modifying the thickness of the gas and glass layers), providing a larger sensitivity, has been simulated and compared with an axially extended version of the crystal-based device. The improved version of the RPC shows better performance than the prototype, but the extended version of the crystal-based PET outperforms all other options. based on an RPC prototype under construction within the Fondazione per Adroterapia Oncologica (TERA). For comparison with the crystal-based PET scanner we have chosen the geometry of a commercially available PET scanner, the Philips Gemini TF. The coincidence time resolution used in the simulations takes into account the current achievable values as well as expected improvements of both technologies. Several scenarios (including patient data) have been simulated to evaluate the performance of different scanners. Initial results have shown that the low sensitivity of the RPC hampers its application to hadron |
| Address |
[Torres-Espallardo, I.; Solevi, P.; Gillam, J.; Rafecas, M.] UV, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain, Email: irene.torres@uv.es |
| Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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| Publisher |
Iop Publishing Ltd |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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| Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0031-9155 |
ISBN |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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| Notes |
WOS:000354104700003 |
Approved |
no |
| Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
| Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
2227 |
| Permanent link to this record |
