Tissue equivalence of some phantom materials for proton beams

TL;DR

This study evaluates the tissue equivalence of various phantom materials for proton therapy by measuring proton ranges and comparing them with reference data, confirming their suitability for clinical use.

Contribution

It provides experimental validation of tissue-equivalent phantom materials for proton beams, including measurements and Monte Carlo calculations, with uncertainty analysis.

Findings

Plastic Water and muscle closely match tissue ranges within 1.5%

Adipose and lung substitutes show slightly lower ranges than actual tissues

Uncertainty in proton range ratios is estimated at 0.9 to 1.5%

Abstract

Tissue and water equivalence of some phantom materials originally developed for conventional radiation therapy was investigated on the ITEP medical proton beam facility. The proton CSDA range in three variants of Plastic Water, lung, adipose, muscle and compact bone substitute materials (CIRS Inc., USA) was measured by a silicon diode as well as the residual proton range in liquid water after passing a slab of each material under investigation. In addition, the proton range in five materials of known elemental composition was calculated by Monte Carlo technique. The obtained results were compared with reference data from ICRU report 49 for respective biological tissues and water. A total uncertainty of the proton range ratios was estimated to be from 0.9 to 1.5% (1SD). Within these uncertainties, Plastic Water, Plastic Water LR, Plastic Water DT, muscle and compact bone demonstrated a good agreement with the reference data. The range in adipose and lung substitutes is a few percents lower than that in the respective tissues.