(Sunday, 7/14/2019)
Room: ePoster Forums
Purpose: We present the possible advantages of using a muon beam as a treatment modality. The use of muons was suggested by Mokhov et al. in 1999 at Fermilab. For a beam with equivalent Bragg peak height, muons produce a lower entrance dose compared to protons. In addition, the larger lateral dose profile that a muon beam creates around the Bragg Peak could be used for treating larger lesions. We present a comparison of dosimetric properties of muons and proton, illustrated by their dose profiles generated with the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) radiation transport package.
Methods: A Monte Carlo simulation was performed using the MCNP 6.2. The muons are produced from a square source whose trajectory is perpendicular to the surface of the source. The muons interact with particles in 30cm-side cubic water phantom where secondary particles are produced. The measurements of energy deposition are scored in the phantom in directions parallel and perpendicular to the beam.
Results: Our results for depth dose match the energy disposition results that were produced by Mokhov et al for a 1cm square source. We analyze the contribution of each secondary particle to dose profile. We then compare the dose profiles of muons and protons. We also produce a dose profile from a 1mm-side square source and perform the same analysis as for the 1cm-side square source.
Conclusion: Muons demonstrate properties that seem advantageous in comparison to protons. For larger lesions, muons have a better peak to entrance dose ratio than protons. In addition, a pencil beam of muons maybe better at sparing normal tissue by utilizing the larger lateral dose profile near the Bragg peak. Since muons are produced from high energy protons interacting with a low-Z material, it is possible for a proton machine to be outfitted to output muons.
Keywords
Taxonomy
TH- External Beam- Particle therapy: Other particle therapy
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