Focused very high-energy electron beams as a novel radiotherapy modality for producing high-dose volumetric elements

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Kokurewicz, K. and Brunetti, E. and Welsh, G. H. and Wiggins, S. M. and Boyd, M. and Sorensen, A. and Chalmers, A. J. and Schettino, G. and Subiel, A. and DesRosiers, C. and Jaroszynski, D. A. (2019) Focused very high-energy electron beams as a novel radiotherapy modality for producing high-dose volumetric elements. Scientific Reports, 9. 10837. ISSN 2045-2322 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46630-w)

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Abstract

The increased inertia of very high-energy electrons (VHEEs) due to relativistic effects reduces scattering and enables irradiation of deep-seated tumours. However, entrance and exit doses are high for collimated or diverging beams. Here, we perform a study based on Monte Carlo simulations of focused VHEE beams in a water phantom, showing that dose can be concentrated into a small, well-defined volumetric element, which can be shaped or scanned to treat deep-seated tumours. The dose to surrounding tissue is distributed over a larger volume, which reduces peak surface and exit doses for a single beam by more than one order of magnitude compared with a collimated beam.

ORCID iDs

Kokurewicz, K. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7547-4783, Brunetti, E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8302-9762, Welsh, G. H. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7933-4190, Wiggins, S. M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7804-6146, Boyd, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4120-2218, Sorensen, A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1861-7258, Chalmers, A. J., Schettino, G., Subiel, A., DesRosiers, C. and Jaroszynski, D. A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3006-5492;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)