The gateway to Europe's
integrated metrology community.

Metrology for advanced radiotherapy using particle beams with ultra-high pulse dose rates

Short Name: UHDpulse, Project Number: 18HLT04
Image of a small child with toy sitting at a windowsill
Child sitting at the windowsill
Coordinator
Andreas Schüller (PTB)

Reference standards and codes of practice for ultra-high pulse dose rate cancer treatment


FLASH radiotherapy is a promising cancer treatment under development, that involves an almost instantaneous delivery of the prescribed radiation dose by only a few radiation pulses of ultra-high dose rate. Such an approach has been found to dramatically reduce adverse side effects to healthy tissues but as effective for tumour control as conventional radiotherapies. Furthermore, laser-driven particle accelerators, which are considered to be the next generation of cost-effective accelerators for radiotherapy, deliver radiation pulses of ultra-high dose rate. Both, FLASH radiotherapy and laser-driven beams present significant metrological challenges as there are significantly higher doses rate during each radiation pulse. Before full implementation in clinical practice, a method to precisely measure radiation doses at these ultra-high pulse dose rates is required, to ensure reliable delivery of prescribed doses to patients.

 

The project has developed a measurement framework, encompassing reference standards traceable to SI units and validated reference methods for dose measurements at ultra-high pulse dose rates. It also characterised detector systems, developed traceable and validated methods for relative dosimetry, characterised stray radiation, and contributed to codes of practice. Outcomes will be promoted to standards organisations, international agencies, manufacturers, and end users. The framework will encourage development of novel laser-driven medical accelerators. Ultimately, the aim is confidence that patients will receive their prescribed dose, for safer, cost effective, cancer treatments.

 

Links
Project website
Link
Final Report
Publishable Summary
Publications
A diamond detector based dosimetric system for instantaneous dose rate measurements in FLASH electron beams
2023

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Recent developments in absolute dosimetry for FLASH radiotherapy
2023

The British Journal of Radiology

Ion recombination correction factors and detector comparison in a very-high dose rate proton scanning beam
2023

Physica Medica

A multi-MeV alpha particle source via proton-boron fusion driven by a 10-GW tabletop laser
2023

Communications Physics

Absolute dosimetry for FLASH proton pencil beam scanning radiotherapy
2023

Scientific Reports

Cellular irradiations with laser-driven carbon ions at ultra-high dose rates
2023

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Single proton LET characterization with the Timepix detector and artificial intelligence for advanced proton therapy treatment planning
2023

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Development of CMOS dosimetry in proton minibeams for enhanced QA and primary standard absorbed dose calorimetry
2023

Journal of Instrumentation

The PTB water calorimeter for determining the absolute absorbed dose to water in ultra-high pulse dose rate electron beams
2023

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Design, realization, and characterization of a novel diamond detector prototype for FLASH radiotherapy dosimetry
2022

Medical Physics

Characterization of the PTB ultra-high pulse dose rate reference electron beam
2022

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Design and validation of a dosimetric comparison scheme tailored for ultra-high dose-rate electron beams to support multicenter FLASH preclinical studies
2022

Radiotherapy and Oncology

Absorbed-dose-to-water measurement using alanine in ultra-high-pulse-dose-rate electron beams
2022

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Technical note: Validation of an ultrahigh dose rate pulsed electron beam monitoring system using a current transformer for FLASH preclinical studies
2022

Medical Physics

Development of an ultra‐thin parallel plate ionization chamber for dosimetry in FLASH radiotherapy
2022

Medical Physics

Determination of the ion collection efficiency of the Razor Nano Chamber for ultra‐high dose‐rate electron beams
2022

Medical Physics

Ultra‐high dose rate dosimetry: Challenges and opportunities for FLASH radiation therapy
2022

Medical Physics

Response of diamond detectors in ultra-high dose-per-pulse electron beams for dosimetry at FLASH radiotherapy
2022

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Ultrahigh dose rate pencil beam scanning proton dosimetry using ion chambers and a calorimeter in support of first in‐human FLASH clinical trial
2022

Medical Physics

Numerical modeling of air-vented parallel plate ionization chambers for ultra-high dose rate applications
2022

Physica Medica

Charge collection efficiency, underlying recombination mechanisms, and the role of electrode distance of vented ionization chambers under ultra-high dose-per-pulse conditions
2022

Physica Medica

Multi-species ion acceleration from sub-ps, PW interactions with ultra-thin foils
2022

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Application of a novel diamond detector for commissioning of FLASH radiotherapy electron beams
2022

Medical Physics

Monte Carlo modelling of pixel clusters in Timepix detectors using the MCNP code
2022

Physica Medica

The probe‐format graphite calorimeter, Aerrow, for absolute dosimetry in ultrahigh pulse dose rate electron beams
2022

Medical Physics

Development of a portable hypoxia chamber for ultra-high dose rate laser-driven proton radiobiology applications
2022

Radiation Oncology

Determination of beam quality correction factors for the Roos plane-parallel ionisation chamber exposed to very high energy electron (VHEE) beams using Geant4
2022

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Stray radiation produced in FLASH electron beams characterized by the MiniPIX Timepix3 Flex detector
2022

Journal of Instrumentation

Ion collection efficiency of ionization chambers in ultra‐high dose‐per‐pulse electron beams
2021

Medical Physics

Radiobiology Experiments With Ultra-high Dose Rate Laser-Driven Protons: Methodology and State-of-the-Art
2021

Frontiers in Physics

Implementation and validation of a beam‐current transformer on a medical pulsed electron beam LINAC for FLASH‐RT beam monitoring
2021

Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics

A Geant4 Fano test for novel very high energy electron beams
2021

Physics in Medicine & Biology

Challenges in dosimetry of particle beams with ultra-high pulse dose rates
2020

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

The European Joint Research Project UHDpulse – Metrology for advanced radiotherapy using particle beams with ultra-high pulse dose rates
2020

Physica Medica

The challenge of ionisation chamber dosimetry in ultra-short pulsed high dose-rate Very High Energy Electron beams
2020

Scientific Reports

Calorimeter for Real-Time Dosimetry of Pulsed Ultra-High Dose Rate Electron Beams
2020

Frontiers in Physics

VHEE beam dosimetry at CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research under ultra-high dose rate conditions
2020

Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express

Dosimetry for New Radiation Therapy Approaches Using High Energy Electron Accelerators
2020

Frontiers in Physics

Dataset for "Cellular irradiations with laser-driven carbon ions at ultra-high dose rates"
0

Dataset for Numerical modeling of air-vented parallel plate ionization chambers for ultra-high dose rate applications
0

Data for: "Dosimetry for new radiation therapy approaches using high energy electron accelerators"
0

Front. Phys.

Datasets: Absorbed-dose-to-water measurement using alanine in ultra-high-pulse-dose-rate electron beams
0

Datasets: The probe-format graphite calorimeter, Aerrow, for absolute dosimetry in ultrahigh pulse dose rate electron beams
0

Dataset for "Multi-Species Ion Acceleration from sub-ps, PW interactions with Ultra-thin Foils"
0

Calorimeter for Real-Time Dosimetry of Pulsed Ultra-High Dose Rate Electron Beams
0

Dataset: "The challenge of ionisation chamber dosimetry in ultra-short pulsed high dose-rate Very High Energy Electron beams"
0

Dataset for "VHEE beam dosimetry at CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research under ultra-high dose rate conditions"
0

Dataset for "Development of an ultra-thin parallel plate ionization chamber for dosimetry in FLASH radiotherapy"
0

Implementation and validation of a beam-current transformer on a medical pulsed electron beam LINAC for FLASH-RT beam monitoring
0

Dataset for Charge collection efficiency, underlying recombination mechanisms, and the role of electrode distance of vented ionization chambers under ultra-high dose-per-pulse conditions
0

Characterization of the PTB ultra-high pulse dose rate reference electron beam
0

Monte Carlo simulated absorbed dose distributions inside BluePhantom2 water phantom with PMMA walls for 220 MeV pencil proton beam
0

Zenodo.org

Participating EURAMET NMIs and DIs
CMI (Czechia)
GUM (Poland)
METAS (Switzerland)
NPL (United Kingdom)
PTB (Germany)
Other Participants
ADVACAM, s.r.o. (Czechia)
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Spain)
Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (Switzerland)
Fyzikální ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. (Czechia)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf e. V. (Germany)
Institut Curie (France)
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
PTW-Freiburg Physikalisch-Technische Werkstätten Dr. Pychlau GmbH (Germany)
Queen's University of Belfast (United Kingdom)
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Ústav jaderné fyziky AV ČR, v.v.i. (Czechia)

Information

Programme
EMPIR
Field
Health
Status
completed
Call
2018
Duration
2019-2023