Advanced proton imaging in computed tomography.
In recent years the use of hadrons for cancer radiation treatment has grown in importance, and many facilities are currently operational or under construction worldwide. To fully exploit the therapeutic advantages offered by hadron therapy, precise body imaging for accurate beam delivery is decisive. Proton computed tomography (pCT) scanners, currently in their R&D phase, provide the ultimate 3D imaging for hadrons treatment guidance. A key component of a pCT scanner is the detector used to track the protons, which has great impact on the scanner performances and ultimately limits its maximum speed. In this article, a novel proton-tracking detector was presented that would have higher scanning speed, better spatial resolution and lower material budget with respect to present state-of-the-art detectors, leading to enhanced performances. This advancement in performances is achieved by employing the very latest development in monolithic active pixel detectors (to build high granularity, low material budget, large area silicon detectors) and a completely new proprietary architecture (to effectively compress the data).
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy serena.mattiazzo@pd.infn.it.
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Mattiazzo
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy.
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Bisello
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy.
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Giubilato
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy.
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Pantano
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy.
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Pozzobon
CERN, 1210 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
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Snoeys
INFN, Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, Padova 35131, Italy DICeM, Università di Cassino e Lazio Meridionale, Via Di Biasio 43, Cassino, FR 03043, Italy.
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Wyss
D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D011522:Protons; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*
D011522:Protons