PT Journal
AU Nacher, E
   Briz, JA
   Nerio, AN
   Perea, A
   Tavora, VG
   Tengblad, O
   Ciemala, M
   Cieplicka-Orynczak, N
   Maj, A
   Mazurek, K
   Olko, P
   Zieblinski, M
   Borge, MJG
TI Characterization of a novel proton-CT scanner based on Silicon and LaBr3(Ce) detectors
SO European Physical Journal Plus
JI Eur. Phys. J. Plus
PY 2024
BP 404
EP 9pp
VL 139
IS 5
DI 10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05203-1
LA English
AB Treatment planning systems at proton-therapy centres entirely use X-ray computed tomography (CT) as primary imaging technique to infer the proton treatment doses to tumour and healthy tissues. However, proton stopping powers in the body, as derived from X-ray images, suffer from important proton-range uncertainties. In order to reduce this uncertainty in range, one could use proton-CT images instead. The main goal of this work is to test the capabilities of a newly-developed proton-CT scanner, based on the use of a set of tracking detectors and a high energy resolution scintillator for the residual energy of the protons. Different custom-made phantoms were positioned at the field of view of the scanner and were irradiated with protons at the CCB proton-therapy center in Krakow. We measured with the phantoms at different angles and produced sinograms that were used to obtain reconstructed images by Filtered Back-Projection. The obtained images were used to determine the capabilities of our scanner in terms of spatial resolution and proton Relative Stopping Power (RSP) mapping and validate its use as proton-CT scanner. The results show that the scanner can produce medium-high quality images, with spatial resolution better than 2 mm in radiography, below 3 mm in tomography and resolving power in the RSP comparable to other state-of-the-art pCT scanners.
ER