A novel range telescope concept for proton CT

TL;DR

This paper introduces ASTRA, a new plastic-scintillator-based range telescope for proton CT, promising high-resolution imaging and fast data collection to improve proton therapy planning.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel ASTRA device with high energy resolution and rapid proton tracking capabilities, advancing proton CT technology for clinical use.

Findings

Energy resolution of 0.7% with potential to improve to 0.5%

ASTRA can track up to 10^8 protons per second

Simulated imaging shows excellent contrast and accurate stopping power reconstruction

Abstract

Proton beam therapy can potentially offer improved treatment for cancers of the head and neck and in paediatric patients. There has been a sharp uptake of proton beam therapy in recent years as improved delivery techniques and patient benefits are observed. However, treatments are currently planned using conventional x-ray CT images due to the absence of devices able to perform high quality proton computed tomography (pCT) under realistic clinical conditions. A new plastic-scintillator-based range telescope concept, named ASTRA, is proposed here to measure the proton's energy loss in a pCT system. Simulations conducted using GEANT4 yield an expected energy resolution of 0.7\%. If calorimetric information is used the energy resolution could be further improved to about $0.5\%$. In addition, the ability of ASTRA to track multiple protons simultaneously is presented. Due to its fast components, ASTRA is expected to reach unprecedented data collection rates, similar to $10^8$ protons/s. The performance of ASTRA has also been tested by simulating the imaging of phantoms. The results show excellent image contrast and relative stopping power reconstruction.