Aspects of the physical principles of the proton therapy with inclusion of nuclear interactions

TL;DR

This paper discusses the physical principles underlying proton therapy, emphasizing nuclear interactions, neutron production, and dose delivery challenges, highlighting areas needing further research for improved treatment accuracy.

Contribution

It provides an overview of nuclear reactions and physical effects in proton therapy, identifying key issues and potential methods for enhancing dose precision.

Findings

Nuclear reactions influence proton therapy outcomes

Neutron production impacts patient safety and dose accuracy

Deconvolution methods can improve dose delivery in scanning techniques

Abstract

The radiotherapy of malignant diseases has reached much progress during the past decade. Thus, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and VMAT (Rapidarc) now belong to the standard modalities of tumor treatment with high energy radiation in clinical practice. In recent time, the particle therapy (protons and partially with heavy carbon ions) has reached an important completion of these modalities with regard to some suitable applications. In spite of this enrichment essential features need further research activities and publications in this field: Nuclear reactions and the role of the released neutrons, electron capture of positively charged nuclei at lower projectile energies (e.g. in the environment of the Bragg peak and at the distal end of the particle track), correct dose delivery in scanning methods by accounting for the influence of the lateral scatter of beam-lets. Deconvolution methods can help to overcome these problems, which already occur in radiotherapy of very small photon beams [1 - 8].