title: Ionoacoustic tomography of the proton Bragg peak in combination with ultrasound and optoacoustic imaging.
abstract: Ions provide a more advantageous dose distribution than photons for external beam radiotherapy, due to their so-called inverse depth dose deposition and, in particular a characteristic dose maximum at their end-of-range (Bragg peak). The favorable physical interaction properties enable selective treatment of tumors while sparing surrounding healthy tissue, but optimal clinical use requires accurate monitoring of Bragg peak positioning inside tissue. We introduce ionoacoustic tomography based on detection of ion induced ultrasound waves as a technique to provide feedback on the ion beam profile. We demonstrate for 20 MeV protons that ion range imaging is possible with submillimeter accuracy and can be combined with clinical ultrasound and optoacoustic tomography of similar precision. Our results indicate a simple and direct possibility to correlate, in-vivo and in real-time, the conventional ultrasound echo of the tumor region with ionoacoustic tomography. Combined with optoacoustic tomography it offers a well suited pre-clinical imaging system.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.|Cardiovascular Research Center, Cardiology Division, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kellnberger
authors.affiliation: Department for Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Assmann
authors.affiliation: Department for Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehrack
authors.affiliation: Department for Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinhardt
authors.affiliation: Department for Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thirolf
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Queirós
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sergiadis
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Physics and Measurement Technology, Universität der Bundeswehr, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dollinger
authors.affiliation: Department for Medical Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Vasilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ntziachristos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D017785:Photons; D011522:Protons; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D011522:Protons