Abstract
It has been shown previously both in vitro and in vivo that microbeam irradiation (MBI) can control malignant tumour cells more effectively than the clinically established concepts of broad beam irradiation. With the aim to extend the international capacity for microbeam research, the first MBI experiment atthe biomedical beamline SYRMEP of the Italian synchrotron facility ELETTRA has been conducted. Using a multislit collimator produced by the company TECOMET, arrays of quasi-parallel microbeams were successfully generated with a beam width of 50 µm and a centre-to-centre distance of 400 µm. Murine melanoma cell cultures were irradiated with a target dose of approximately 65 Gy at a mean photon energy of ∼30 keV with a dose rate of70 Gy s-1 and a peak-to-valley dose of ∼123. This work demonstrated a melanoma cell reduction of approximately 80% after MBI. It is suggested that, while a high energy is essential to achieve high dose rates in order to deposit high treatment doses in a short time in a deep-seated target, for in vitro studies and for the treatment of superficial tumours a spectrum in the lower energy range might be equally suitable or even advantageous.
Highlights
Microbeam irradiation (MBI) with therapeutic intent has become known as microbeam radiotherapy (MRT)
During the last three decades, more than 100 publications have been registered in the Pubmed database, reporting on the development of specialized equipment for microbeam irradiation as well as on in vitro and in vivo experiments assessing the potential of MRT for the treatment of malignant and nonmalignant diseases (Schultke et al, 2017)
microbeam irradiation (MBI) relies on a custom-made multi-slit collimator (MSC), which was inserted into the hardware and software environment of the SYRMEP beamline
Summary
Microbeam irradiation (MBI) with therapeutic intent has become known as microbeam radiotherapy (MRT). An irradiation field with a repetitive peak and valley dose pattern is created. A high peak-to-valley dose ratio (PVDR), created by the prominent peak dose deposited in the paths of the microbeams and the valley dose zones between the paths of the microbeams, is essential for the preservation of normal tissue function (Siegbahn et al, 2006; Serduc et al, 2009). The high photon flux of a synchrotron provides the required high peak dose rate to preserve a steep dose gradient at the microbeam edges.
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