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AKBP: Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik

AKBP 6: Accelerators for Medical Applications (joint session ST/AKBP)

AKBP 6.1: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 2. April 2025, 13:45–14:15, ZHG009

Mixed ion beams for treatment monitoring: recent developments and future prospects — •Elisabeth Renner¹, Hermann Fuchs², Matthias Kausel^{3, 1}, and Claus Schmitzer³ — ¹Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria — ²MedUni Wien, Vienna, Austria — ³MedAustron, Wiener Neustadt, Austria

In recent years, the use of mixed ion beams has been proposed as a method for treatment monitoring in ion beam therapy. A promising candidate in this context is a ¹²C⁶⁺ beam with a small ⁴He²⁺ contribution. The similar charge-to-mass ratios of these two ion species enable their simultaneous acceleration in medical synchrotrons. Being extracted at almost the same energy per mass, ⁴He²⁺ features a range in matter approximately three times that of ¹²C⁶⁺. This opens the possibility for tumor treatment with ¹²C⁶⁺ while simultaneously performing ⁴He²⁺ imaging downstream of the patient.

In 2024, the first successful delivery of a mixed ¹²C⁶⁺/⁴He²⁺ beam in a clinical facility was achieved at MedAustron. Instead of being generated in a single ion source, as realized at GSI in late 2023, the two ion species were mixed during the injection into the synchrotron, before being simultaneously accelerated and extracted into the research irradiation room. There the ion mix was characterized using radiochromic films, low-gain avalanche diode detectors, and a configuration of two ionization chambers separated by multiple PTW RW3 slabs.

This talk provides a general overview of recent breakthroughs in mixed ion beam delivery, discusses technical challenges, and explores the future potential for treatment monitoring in ion beam therapy.

Keywords: Mixed ion beams; Treatment monitoring; Ion beam therapy