Development of a phenomenological RBE calculation model for carbon ion radiotherapy and high-precision clinical analysis

Abstract

Cancer can reduce quality of life, place strain on families and even kill. Treatment methods are not always effective nor precise and involve either surgical removal of cancerous tissues or a combination of drugs and radiation. Advances in physics are providing new hope for treatment options in the form of radiation and, specifically, particle therapy, which includes proton beam therapy and carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT). This improves treatment precision as the beam can be targeted so that it kills cancer and not the surrounding tissue. Ryosuke Kohno, Department of Accelerator and Medical Physics, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan, is interested in how applied physics can bridge with medicine, becoming medical physics. He has developed several beam therapies protocols over the years and is particularly interested in CIRT and how the technique can be improved. Kohno is currently working on fine tuning a model that can be optimally calibrated to attack all types of tumours. He and his team are also working on Intensity-Modulated Composite Particle Therapy (IMPACT). Kohno is collaborating with a multidisciplinary radiotherapy team and his interdisciplinary research involves the integration of radiation/medical physics, radiation biology and radiation oncology. He is also assisting early-stage researchers so that the next-generation of researchers can form new bridges between basic science and medicine.