SU‐C‐207A‐05: Feature Based Water Equivalent Path Length (WEPL) Determination for Proton Radiography by the Technique of Time Resolved Dose Measurement

Abstract

Purpose:Studies show that WEPL can be determined from modulated dose rate functions (DRF). However, the previous calibration method based on statistics of the DRF is sensitive to energy mixing of protons due to scattering through different materials (termed as range mixing here), causing inaccuracies in the determination of WEPL. This study intends to explore time‐domain features of the DRF to reduce the effect of range mixing in proton radiography (pRG) by this technique.Methods:An amorphous silicon flat panel (PaxScan™ 4030CB, Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA) was placed behind phantoms to measure DRFs from a proton beam modulated by a specially designed modulator wheel. The performance of two methods, the previously used method based on the root mean square (RMS) and the new approach based on time‐domain features of the DRF, are compared for retrieving WEPL and RSP from pRG of a Gammex phantom.Results:Calibration by T80 (the time point for 80% of the major peak) was more robust to range mixing and produced WEPL with improved accuracy. The error of RSP was reduced from 8.2% to 1.7% for lung equivalent material, with the mean error for all other materials reduced from 1.2% to 0.7%. The mean error of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of retrieved inserts was decreased from 25.85% to 5.89% for the RMS and T80 method respectively. Monte Carlo simulations in simplified cases also demonstrated that the T80 method is less sensitive to range mixing than the RMS method.Conclusion:WEPL images have been retrieved based on single flat panel measured DRFs, with inaccuracies reduced by exploiting time‐domain features as the calibration parameter. The T80 method is validated to be less sensitive to range mixing and can thus retrieve the WEPL values in proximity of interfaces with improved numerical and spatial accuracy for proton radiography.