Practical biological spread-out Bragg peak design for a carbon beam

• Published in: Journal of the Korean Physical Society Vol. 67; no. 8; pp. 1440 - 1443
• Main Authors: Kim, Chang Hyeuk, Lee, Hwa-Ryun, Chang, Seduk, Jang, Hong Suk, Kim, Jeong Hwan, Park, Dong Wook, Hwang, Won Taek, Yang, Tea-Keun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Physical Society 01.10.2015; 한국물리학회
• Subjects: Mathematical and Computational Physics; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Theoretical; 물리학; Relative biological effectiveness; Carbon beam therapy; Spread-out Bragg peak
• ISSN: 0374-4884; 1976-8524
• DOI: 10.3938/jkps.67.1440

In radiation therapy, the carbon beams has more advantages with respect to biological properties then a proton beam. The carbon beam has a high linear energy transfer (LET) to the medium and a higher relative biological effectiveness (RBE). To design the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) of biological dose for a carbon beam, we propose a practical method using the linear-quadratic (LQ) model and the Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation code. Various Bragg peak profiles and LETs were calculated for each slice in the target region. To generate an appropriate biological SOBP, we applied a set of weighting factors, which are power functions in terms of energy steps, to each obtained physical dose. The designed biological SOBP showed a uniformity of 1.34%.