Spatial correlation of proton irradiation‐induced activity and dose in polymer gel phantoms for PET/CT delivery verification studies

Abstract

This work demonstrates a novel application of BANG3-Pro2 polymer gel dosimeter as a dosimetric phantom able to accurately capture both dose and induced activity. BANG3-Pro2 dosimeters were irradiated with a clinical proton beam using an unmodulated beam and a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) modulation, the latter with a Lucite compensator to introduce a range offset in one quadrant of the circular field. The dosimeters were imaged in a nearby positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) unit starting within 5 min of beam-off. Induced positron emission (PE) activity along the central axis of the beam was compared to analytical calculations. Dose distributions were read out using an optical CT scanner and were validated against ion chamber measurements and the treatment plan. The offset between the distal fall-off of dose and activity (50% level) was determined over the entire irradiated field. Lateral profiles of PE were correlated to measured dose for the unmodulated beam delivery. Measured profiles of PE activity along the central beam axis were found to be within 10% of the predictions of analytical calculations. The depth-dose profiles agreed with the reference values (ion chamber or treatment plan) within 3%. The offset between the depth profiles of dose and activity for the unmodulated beam was 8.4 ± 1.4 mm. For the compensator-based SOBP delivery, the distribution of offsets throughout the field was found to be bimodal, with the mean of 8.9 ± 2.8 mm for the thinner region of the compensator and 4.3 ± 2.5 mm for the thicker region. For the pristine beam delivery, lateral profiles of dose and activity were found to exhibit fair spatial correlation throughout the beam range, with the mean 2D gamma index of 0.42 and 91% of the evaluated pixels passing the test. This work presents the first demonstration of simultaneous and accurate experimental measurement of three-dimensional distributions of dose and induced activity and lays the groundwork for further investigations using BANG3-Pro2 as a dosimetric phantom in PET/CT delivery verification studies.