title: X-Tream quality assurance in synchrotron X-ray microbeam radiation therapy.
abstract: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is a novel irradiation technique for brain tumours treatment currently under development at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The technique is based on the spatial fractionation of a highly brilliant synchrotron X-ray beam into an array of microbeams using a multi-slit collimator (MSC). After promising pre-clinical results, veterinary trials have recently commenced requiring the need for dedicated quality assurance (QA) procedures. The quality of MRT treatment demands reproducible and precise spatial fractionation of the incoming synchrotron beam. The intensity profile of the microbeams must also be quickly and quantitatively characterized prior to each treatment for comparison with that used for input to the dose-planning calculations. The Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (University of Wollongong, Australia) has developed an X-ray treatment monitoring system (X-Tream) which incorporates a high-spatial-resolution silicon strip detector (SSD) specifically designed for MRT. In-air measurements of the horizontal profile of the intrinsic microbeam X-ray field in order to determine the relative intensity of each microbeam are presented, and the alignment of the MSC is also assessed. The results show that the SSD is able to resolve individual microbeams which therefore provides invaluable QA of the horizontal field size and microbeam number and shape. They also demonstrate that the SSD used in the X-Tream system is very sensitive to any small misalignment of the MSC. In order to allow as rapid QA as possible, a fast alignment procedure of the SSD based on X-ray imaging with a low-intensity low-energy beam has been developed and is presented in this publication.
authors: Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia.
authors: Pauline
authors: P
authors: Fournier
authors: Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia.
authors: Iwan
authors: I
authors: Cornelius
authors: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France.
authors: Mattia
authors: M
authors: Donzelli
authors: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France.
authors: Herwig
authors: H
authors: Requardt
authors: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Nemoz
authors: Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Petasecca
authors: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, France.
authors: Elke
authors: E
authors: Bräuer-Krisch
authors: Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia.
authors: Anatoly
authors: A
authors: Rosenfeld
authors: Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Lerch
keywords: high resolution detector; microbeam radiation therapy; quality assurance; silicon single strip detector