Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the Neutron yield obtained during prostate external beam irradiation. Methods: Neutrons, that are commonly a radiation safety concern for photon beams with energy above 10 MV, are induced inside a PTV from Beryllium implemented seeds. A high megavoltage photon beam delivered to a prostate will yield neutrons via the reaction Be-9(γ,n)2?. Beryllium was chosen for its low gamma,n reaction cross-section threshold (1.67 MeV) to be combined with a high feasible 25 MV photon beam. This beam spectra has a most probable photon energy of 2.5 to 3.0 MeV and an average photon energy of about 5.8 MeV. For this feasibility study we simulated a Beryllium-made common seed dimension (0.1 cm diameter and 0.5 cm height) without taking into account encapsulation. We created a 0.5 cm grid loading pattern excluding the Urethra, using Variseed (Varian inc.) A total of 156 seeds were exported to a 4cm diameter prostate sphere, created in Fluka, a particle transport Monte Carlo Code. Two opposed 25 MV beams were simulated. The evaluation of the neutron dose was done by adjusting the simulated photon dose to a common prostate delivery (e.g. 7560 cGy in 42 fractions) and finding the corresponding neutron dose yield from the simulation. A variance reduction technique was conducted for the neutrons yield and transported. Results: An effective dose of 3.65 cGy due to neutrons was found in the prostate volume. The dose to central areas of the prostate was found to be about 10 cGy. Conclusion: The neutron dose yielded does not justify a clinical implant of Beryllium seeds. Nevertheless, one should investigate the Neutron dose obtained when a larger Beryllium loading is combined with commercially available 40 MeV Linacs.
Published Version
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